False Identity
by pink.hot.chocolate
Summary: Chad disappears. Years later, will his friends be able to find him and finally return life to normal? Rated M for language and mild adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: So this first chapter is kind of awkwardly written. I'm kind of obsessed with kidnapping stories. This first takes****place about five years before the normal, where everyone is twelve, yet I kept Gabriella in there anyway****. I just thought I'd try a different style of writing, but I think I'll go back to ****my regular****way ****later.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HSM or the characters or anything. I got the idea of this story from something that happened in my hometown last year.**

**Chapter 1: Mistakes**

Crying. Everywhere. Men, women, and children alike. The casket being shut, forever concealing the youthful face of the young boy, strong, muscular-he had been a fantastic basketball player-his complexion dark, his long curly brown hair-he had always prized his hair- waving in the wind for the last time. A shadow of a last smile was left on his face-he was always pulling some prank. Slowly lowering in the ground. They cry harder. A man, off to the side, the boy's father, cannot contain himself any longer. He steals away by himself, away from the crowd, all gathered to remember the one thing he had left, his son. No more. He was gone, never to return. The man had loved the boy too much. He could not accept this. Something broke within him. Weather it was his mind or heart is unclear. His son was gone. No. This could not happen. It was not true. He would do whatever it took to get his son back. He would do whatever he had to, no matter what it cost him. He would save his son.

---Chad Danforth---

It was a very sunny day. There seemed to be a very bright day ahead of the twelve year old Chad, and he smiled with delight at his plans for the day. As he walked to school, he went over the plan again; he and Troy had planned a surprise birthday party for Taylor and Gabriella, since their birthdays were only four days apart. Today was Gabriella's birthday, while Taylor's was on Tuesday. He and Troy would take them to the place under the pretext that they were going on a normal date. They would get to the pizzeria, which Troy had specially reserved just for the party, and it would happen exactly as in the movies. Everyone would hide and yell 'Surprise!' and Taylor and Gabriella scream in surprise, as intended, and then he and Troy would be deemed the best boyfriends in the world. Chad couldn't see anything wrong with the plan and predicted smooth going.

Chad hadn't been paying attention and accidentally slammed into a man who was walking the opposite way, knocking him over. The man yelled and glared at Chad as he stood back up, but his expression changed quickly. He seemed shocked but happy, but Chad couldn't tell why. He had just knocked him over, the man seemed to have been crying anyway, and he looked a mess. His hair was ragged, the stubble on his face at least five days old, his clothes torn, and his eyes bloodshot. Chad was profusely apologizing, but the man waved him off, telling him it was no problem, all the while smiling, as if he'd just realized or remembered something. After a minute of Chad babbling his guilt, the man finally held up his hand to silence him.

"What's your name, boy?" his voice was gruff, as if he hadn't spoken in days. Chad could distinctly smell alcohol on the man's breath.

"Chad Danforth, sir," Chad responded unthinkingly. The man nodded and said,

"You live around here?"

"Yeah. Down on Mantle Drive," Chad again said, wanting to do anything he could for the man he had almost hurt.

"Well, I expect you should be getting to school," the man dismissed. Chad took the final hint and was turning around when the man asked, "Where do you go to school?"

"East High. The middle school part," Chad glanced at his watch, he was going to be late and he would almost surely get another detention form his sixth grade teacher, Ms. Warn, and he needed to set up the party after school, so he had to hurry.

"Maybe I'll see you around kid," the man walked away, leaving Chad who quickly jogged to school, not remembering any of all the warnings his parents had given him about talking to strangers.

Chad arrived at school and evaded detention, and at 3.15, entered the empty pizzeria, followed by Troy and Zeke. They had a limited amount of money and therefore had to make most of the decorations themselves. They hung up a beautifully sketched banner made by Sharpay and Kelsi the previous day. They had all pitched in to buy some streamers and balloons that Chad and Troy were using to tie each other up. Money well spent. After Ryan and Sharpay arrived with Kelsi and Jason bringing up the rear, they finally got down to work. In about twenty minutes they were finished and the place looked amazing.

Troy and Chad left to get Taylor and Gabriella. On the to Gabriella's house, Chad told Troy about the strange man he'd run into that morning. "Yeah, that's weird. Who was he?" Troy asked.

"I don't know. I'd never seen him before. He seemed like, drunk or something. I don't think he's showered for days."

"He was drunk at 7.00 in the morning?" Troy asked disbelievingly.

"That's what it looked like. I guess he was hanging around that old cemetery, drinking away whatever was bugging him,"

"That's really weird. What cemetery was it?"

"It's that one on the way from my house to school,"

"Wasn't there a funeral there a few days ago? Some kid from upper town died from cancer or something, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yeah. I heard about that. Do you think that guy knew the kid or something?"

"I don't know. Something just seems weird about the fact he was hanging around, drunk, right after a funeral there. It was the first one, in like, five years there, my dad said."

"Hey Gabi, Tay! You guys ready to go?" Chad waved at the girls sitting on Gabriella's front door step. They stood and waved as they walked towards them.

"Happy birthday, Gabi!" Troy said brightly.

"Thanks, Troy," Gabriella squealed, "How many times have you said that to me today?"

"Oh, about forty million times," Chad guessed, nudging Troy playfully.

"Sounds about right," Taylor said, giggling.

"Shall we," Troy, his cheeks turning pink, motioned in the general direction of the pizzeria.

"Why are we getting food now? We usually see the movie first," Taylor pointed out.

"Uhh, why do we always have to do things the same way?" Chad said. Taylor's eyebrow rose suspiciously and Troy cut in, saving his friend.

"I already bought the tickets online so we can't go anywhere before or I'll have wasted my money." It was a good enough lie. The girls bought it and they proceeded to the restaurant.

"Is it closed?" Gabriella asked, eyeing the dark and apparently deserted building ahead of them.

"I'll check," Chad quickened his pace and reached it before them. He stuck his head in the door and said, "We're here. One minute. Keep hiding," he then stuck his head back out and turned around to see Taylor gazing at him inquisitively.

"Was anyone in there?"

"Yeah,"

"Why are the lights off?" Taylor asked, seeing the dim abandoned pizzeria, suspecting something was up.

"They said the power was off," Chad invented quickly.

"Then how are they going to make the pizza?" Gabriella asked, very confused.

"Just go in guys," Troy commanded as he pushed them through the door that Chad was holding open.

"Surprise!" Everyone simultaneously yelled.

"Surprise!" Jason stupidly yelled three seconds later.

Gabi and Taylor were laughing with joy at the sight of all their friends gathered for them.

"Thanks, you guys!" Gabi cried appreciatively.

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Taylor said enthusiastically.

It was a great party. Everyone had a lot of fun. It ended at about 10.00 and slowly the stragglers of the party helped clean up.

"Thanks again so much, guys," Gabriella said as she picked up a napkin off the ground and threw it in the trash, "This was so fun!"

"You're welcome Gabs,"

"You know you guys don't need to clean up. It's your party," Zeke pointed out.

"I've got nothing better to do. Might as well help you guys," Gabriella said, grabbing a wash cloth for the table. The agreement was they could have the place all to themselves for a few hours only if they cleaned up after themselves.

"I love my necklace, Chad! It's so pretty," Taylor touched her hand to the diamond shaped rock and smiled.

"You know it's not a real diamond, right?" Chad said, wondering why she was so happy about a piece of crap.

"I know, I just think it's really pretty. I wasn't expecting anything at all. I didn't know you had any money." Taylor said, still fingering her pendant.

"Is that the right stone?" Chad took a random guess when selecting the birthstone for Taylor.

"Yep. April babies are diamonds."

"Cool. Troy, what'd you get Gabriella?"

"The wrong birthstone," Troy mumbled, embarrassed at not knowing his own girlfriends birthstone.

"It's okay, Troy. I love the color emerald, it's my favorite!"

"Seriously?" Troy said, looking up.

"Yeah. Diamonds always kind of bored me because they're clear,"

"Cool," Troy instantly shifted into a better mood.

"Was that true, Gabi?" Taylor muttered to her friend.

"No, but I wanted to make him feel better. It's still really pretty." She glanced over at Troy who was now whistling to himself as he threw away paper plates and cups.

"Yeah. I gotta get going," Taylor waved as she walked away from Gabi. "Chad, will you walk me home?"

"No problem, anything to get out of mopping the floor," Chad cast away the mop, hitting Jason on the head, "Sorry, dude. Didn't mean to," Taylor giggled next to him, "See you guys at the game tomorrow."

Chad and Taylor walked down the dark, empty street, hand in hand and chattering the whole time. Chad had a strange feeling in the back of his head, like he was being watched. He brushed the feeling seeing as how Taylor's deep, brown eyes never left his face.

They said good night at her doorstep and Chad headed on his way home, all the while never seeing the dark figure following him in the dark.

---

**A/n: Again, it was kind of awkward. Not my usual standard, in my opinion.**** I love reviews, so… yeah. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n: Sorry about the long update period. If updating one story at a time is hard, two is nearly impossible for me. I'm trying to though. Thanks to all those who have read my stories, I'd really appreciate it if you'd give me some feedback in a review. You're choice though. Read on!**

**Chapter 2: A Bad Turn**

Days turned into weeks and soon, May was ending and Chad was finishing sixth grade. It was getting much warmer and he and his friends were often found walking around outside, enjoying the nice weather before it got too hot. At the moment, Chad and Troy were riding their bikes to the playground, where they were meeting Gabriella and Taylor.

"What's up, ladies?" Chad smiled hugely, pulling his bike to a stop, and clumsily falling onto the ground in the process. He quickly straightened himself and recomposed his flustered face.

"Nice, dude," Troy laughed while the girls giggled.

"Let's just go get some ice cream,"

"Whatever. Think you can make it without wiping out again?" Troy couldn't stop laughing at Chad.

"Shut up. I bet I could get there and eat my ice cream before you could get off this street," Chad responded, egging troy into a competition.

"You're on," Troy and Chad raced off, momentarily forgetting about the girls like the good boyfriends they were. The girls were left to walk off, grumbling about lack of chivalry in the world.

A few minutes later, the couples found each other. The boys apologized, half heartedly, while the girls shook their heads and tried not to smile. They couldn't help it as Troy and Chad had taken the liberty of using their extra time to buy a strawberry ice cream for Gabriella and chocolate for Taylor. The four sat on a nearby bench, licking their treats and chatting about pointless things like summer and the future of seventh grade.

"Oh, they'll hate me as much in seventh as they do in sixth," Chad said casually, crunching on the last bite of his cone.

"Well, you could try behaving once in awhile," Taylor suggested. Troy and Chad laughed at this impossible feat. Gabriella turned to Taylor and asked,

"Do you think we should ask Ms. Michella if we should take honors algebra next year?"

"Definitely. Regular Algebra is so easy; we'll need a bit of a challenge to prepare us for high school in two years."

"Easy?" Troy asked incredualously. "I can't do multiplication, let alone algebra,"

"Oh, give yourself more credit Troy," Gabriella said sweetly. "You're smarter than you think." 

"Yeah, well, I am by far, the best mathematician. I'm so smart, they're just putting me straight through to freshman math,"

"Oh yeah? What kind of math do they do up there?" Taylor asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Um, it's called oncology," Chad told her stupidly.

"Hmmm. Have fun studying cancer in math class next year."

"What?"

"Oncology is the study of how cancer forms, Chad," Taylor responded.

"Oh. I thought I just kind of made up that word." The four of them laughed. As it was starting to get dark, Gabriella suggested they start home. The other three agreed. Chad and Troy grabbed their bikes, but this time walked with the girls, pulling the bikes along with them.

As Gabi and Taylor were having a sleepover and Troy was going home to Chad's, the two groups parted ways soon enough. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow over everything. Chad looked over his shoulder, watching the silhouettes of the two girls walk away, their shadows extending back towards him. Chad also caught a glimpse of another figure. He didn't think much of this and he turned his head forward again.

Troy and Chad arrived at Chad's house just as the last rays of sunlight were fading behind the dark trees surrounding them. Chad couldn't shake the now ever present feeling that someone was watching him, and as he grabbed his key from underneath the potted plant, he cast a side glance over his shoulder. He again glimpsed a figure. He couldn't see it well or for long, as it darted out of sight quickly. He thought it kind of looked like, but no, that was weird. Why would he be here? Chad decided again to ignore it and followed Troy, who had stolen the key and was now snacking in his kitchen.

"What's wrong, dude? You seem paranoid."

"It's nothing," Chad shrugged his shoulders, yet he didn't look into Troy's eyes. He didn't want to scare Troy, so he decided to keep these odd occurrences to himself. He thought 'I'm probably overreacting anyway'. Yet, he continued to glance out the window continuously, wondering if it possibly was who he thought it was outside, possibly watching him. Every time he looked out the window, he would shake his head, trying to clear it and reassure himself at the same time.

Troy took his mind off the strange figure by accidentally breaking one of Chad's mother's Chinese vases. Instead of worrying about the man outside, Chad worried about how much trouble he would be in when his mother got home.

--- 2 days later---

"Chad, go walk the dog!" a shrill voice commanded.

"Uh…" an extremely tired voice answered. Chad rolled over to try to go back to sleep. Suddenly the covers were pulled off of him. He curled into a tight ball to try and warm himself, but it was no use. He then decided to grab his sheet. This was quickly taken away from him too. "Come on Mom," he pleaded. "It's Sunday."

"I don't care, Chad. He's your dog and he's your responsibility. He woke me up this morning, so now I'm waking you up. Now give him a walk."

"This is so unfair. If you were already awake, why couldn't you do it?" Chad still hadn't opened his eyes yet.

"For three reasons, Chad. One, life isn't fair. Two, it isn't fair to me that _your _rambunctious dog woke me up. Three, I have an early meeting to get to." Mrs. Danforth looked down to see her son snoring again. She stole his pillow and hit him with it, yelling 'Up!' one last time before exiting the room.

Ten minutes later, Chad was struggling to hold onto Corbin's leash. He _was _annoying today. Chad yawned for the billionth time that morning. It was only 6.oo A.M., it looked like no one had even woken up yet; all the lights in every house were off. Corbin tugged on his leash, wanting to go faster.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chad thought he saw movement. He turned to see better. Whatever it was left, because, Chad scanned the entire street only to find it empty. Corbin took advantage of Chad's momentary lack of attention to give a mighty pull on the leash. Chad, surprised, didn't succeed in keeping his hold on the leash. Corbin dashed away, with Chad yelling and sprinting after him.

Chad ran after Corbin for ten full minutes. He saw his white tail round the corner, but when he got there, the dog had vanished. Chad was still yelling for him. He stopped quickly when he saw where he was. 

The neighborhood was very run-down and dirty. The houses were small and falling apart. The wind didn't even seem able to break the complete stillness of this place. It was silent. Chad's heaving chest was the only thing moving throughout the entire area. Chad didn't recognize this place at all, and realized with horror that he was lost.

The only thing for him to do was to try and retrace his footsteps. This seemed to only get him more lost. Chad sat in the gutter, trying to think of what he should do. He was alone, in a bad neighborhood, without any knowledge or any means of getting home. Corbin was probably a mile away by now. Chad pounded his fist against the ground, trying to release some agitation. What was he going to do?

A few minutes later, a large man walked down the street. He had a long, ragged beard, with long hair to match it. He seemed to be homeless, based on his overall appearance. He was heading directly for Chad. Chad didn't know what to do. He just knew he didn't want this man getting any closer. He stood up warily and began backing up, refusing to take his eyes off the advancing man.

The man noticed Chad's fear, and smiled. This made Chad quicken his pace backwards, all the while both of them staying completely silent. When they'd both been walking like this for about thirty seconds, Chad got the courage to speak.

"Look, I don't have any drugs or money or anything," he couldn't keep his voice from shaking. This only made the man laugh. Chad quickened his pace even more. This was stupid as he tripped and fell over backwards. The next thing he knew, the man was on top of him, covering his mouth with a huge, hairy hand. Chad flailed, and kicked, and tried to bite him. It was no use. Chad wasn't very strong, whereas this man was freakishly muscular. Replacing the hand was a handkerchief. It smelled very odd. Chad's eyes began to droop. He fought to remain awake. He couldn't. He slowly closed his eyes. He stopped fighting back. 

Mr. Danforth was waiting in the kitchen for Chad to get home so he could go to work. He just needed to finish a few things, and then he was going to spend the rest of the day with his three children. Chad was certainly taking his time walking the dog. The clock struck 7.00, and Mr. Danforth began to get worried. Chad was always too lazy to take the dog on a full 30 minute walk, let alone an hour!

Soon he heard barking, and he looked out his front window. Corbin bounded down the street, leash dragging behind him. Chad was nowhere to be found. 

---

**A/n: Sorry, kind of short compared to my usual. Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/n: Sorry for the extremely long update period. I've been skiing in Utah. I'm proud to say I completely flipped and hurt my butt. Anyway, here's the next chapter.**

**Chapter 3: Innocence, Reluctance, and Grievance**

"Liz, have you heard from Chad this morning?" Richard Danforth asked, trying to keep the concern out of his voice.

"I told him to walk Corbin this morning," Hannah Danforth replied, not having caught her husband's tone.

"Well, Corbin's here, but Chad's not," Richard's voice rose slightly.

"Did he walk Corbin?"

"Yes, the leash was on him, but he walked home alone."

"Okay," Hannah was starting to realize what he was thinking, "Have you called Troy's parents or anything."

"Yeah, I've talked to all of his close friends parents, none of them have seen or heard from him. He hasn't met with any of his friends because it's way too early. Most of the kids were still sleeping."

"Okay," Hannah repeated, officially freaking out. If Chad was fooling around somewhere, she was going to kill him for worrying her like this. Her blood pumped in her ears, her face suddenly flushing. She began panting, growing very warm, her hands clammy. "I'm coming home Richard. So you haven't heard from him for the last three hours?"

"Right. Okay, I'll see you soon. Love you,"

"Love you too, Richard. Call me if you hear from him. Bye," Hannah and Richard both hung up.

--7 hours later--

"Oh my God! Where could he be?" screeched Hannah, losing all pretenses of coolness. Richard hugged her tightly, not being able to do anything else. Hannah's body shook with the sobs she was trying so hard to repress. It was 8.00 in the evening and no one had heard anything from Chad. Since he'd been missing for over 12 hours, they had called the police. There were three officers standing awkwardly in the doorway, rubbing their necks and trying to look away from Hannah.

"We're going to do all we can to find him Ma'm," the most pristine officer mumbled, fidgeting with his badge. Hannah was still sobbing hysterically.

"What if he isn't just lost? What if he was kidnapped, or…" she couldn't finish the last thought. The police had pieced together a theory. While walking, Corbin, Chad had gotten lost. He'd somehow lost control of Corbin, and the dog made his way back to the house alone. Kidnapping was so impossible in a peaceful town like Albuquerque. Everyone knew everyone, and there hadn't even been a crime as pettyas shoplifting in the last seven months. Bad things just didn't seem to happen here. Every once in a while, someone died, or broke a bone, but that was the extent. You never found crazy criminals wandering around looking for kids to rape or kill. It just didn't happen. Not here. Not now.

This is why it seemed ridiculous that their twelve year old son could actually be in trouble. The worrying mind of Mrs. Danforth said otherwise. Being raised in the big city, her mind jumped straight to kidnapping or killing. Chad knew his home city too well to get lost. As stupid as he sometimes acted, he had more common sense than to go wandering around in an unfamiliar place.

"He's not dead, Hannah," Richard said sternly, though he had no proof.

"Daddy?" the small voice of three year old Teddy Danforth floated down the stairs.

"I'll be up to kiss you goodnight in a second," Richard called.

"Annabel is listening," Teddy tattled. A moment later, a small yell erupted from the top landing and Teddy ran down the stairs as fast as his small legs could carry him. He too was sobbing and rubbing a small red spot on his arm. "She pinched me!" His big brown eyes, so like his older brothers, looked up into his fathers. The sad sight would melt most hearts, but, at the moment, there were worse things occurring.

"Where's Chad?" seven year old Annabel asked, looking from her quietly crying mother to her stony faced father. She had short, dirty blonde hair, and at the moment, a beet red face. She could beat up almost all the boys in her class, something she happened to be very proud of. She didn't pay the slightest attention to Teddy as he continued to cry about his minor injury. When no one answered her, she turned to the officers and boldly said, "Tell me where he is."

"Um, we aren't sure, exactly," the youngest of the men, about twenty-five answered.

"Is he with Troy?" Annabel asked, seeing as how he usually _was_ with Troy. Her father shook his head sadly.

"Sweetie, why don't you and Teddy go up to bed," Richard said quietly.

"I don't want to go to bed! I'm not tired! Where is CHAD?!" Annabel began to throw one of her routine tantrums. Teddy joined in, though he had absolutely no idea what was happening. After twenty seconds of their yelling 'We want Chad', Hannah cut in,

"Shut up, both of you! Go up to your beds now! Don't you dare talk back to me, young lady. Go!" Hannah didn't usually talk to her children like this, but at, the moment, she a tad bit too stressed to care.

Annabel stomped up to her room and slammed the door. Teddy on the other hand stopped on the stairs and came back. He walked over to his mother and hugged her leg, saying, "Chad will be home tomorrow, after he's done sleeping over at Troy's house. Good night Mommy. I love you," Hannah stooped down and kissed him on the cheek. His father did the same. Teddy then turned around and went up the stairs, a happy, innocent smile upon his face.

In his room, he could hear the door close and saw lights flicker on as the police drove away. He could not, however, hear the renewed sobs from his mother in the kitchen.

--

"Hey, Troy, what's up?" Taylor asked cheerily. "Is Chad here yet?"

"Not yet, but he usually carpools with Zeke, so he'll be here soon." Troy replied as he piled the books for his morning classes in his bag.

"Hey. Did you guys finish that English essay for today?" Zeke asked, popping out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I finished it like, a week ago," Taylor said. "Hey, is Chad with you?"

"No. His dad called this morning and said he didn't need a ride. I think he's sick or something."

"Oh. I hope he's okay. We were planning on going to Panera Bread tomorrow after school. I should make him a get well card or something," as she talked, Taylor absentmindedly played with her necklace. The necklace Chad had given her. She wore it every day, all the time. Chad couldn't comprehend why she liked that piece of plastic so much.

"Hi. What's up?" Gabriella asked happily. "I love Mondays!"

"You are the oddest person I know," Zeke, said, shaking his head. He walked off to his first class, math.

"Just two more weeks!" Troy said happily.

"Only seventy more classes!" Taylor piped in.

"Well, you just ruined that for me. Seventy classes will stretch out for forever. Two weeks sounds shorter."

"Only because it's a smaller number," Gabriella pointed out. "Besides, after today, we'll only have sixty-three classes left."

"Too many numbers too early in the morning," Troy rubbed his head as he walked off. He turned and gave a quick smile to Gabriella as he too entered _math_ class.

--

"Quiet down, please," Ms. Michella said sweetly. She was the opposite of your average math teacher. Young, pretty, nice, helpful. Half the boys in the class had crushes on her. She made math bearable. "Zeke Baylor?"

"Here"

"Troy Bolton?"

"Here"

"Jason Cross?"

"Here"

"Fred Dalberg?"

"Here"

"Chad Danforth?" Silence. Zeke raised his hand to say,

"I think he's sick, Ms. Michella."

"Thank you Zeke." She proceeded with the rest of the names on her list.

"I'll be right back class. I'm going to enter the attendance down in the office." She exited the room. The office, as usual, was chaotic. Papers strewn about over all the desk tops. Phones ringing. Secretaries and assistants running around with coffee cups in hand. A normal day. Ms. Michella noticed one odd thing. The tone in the office was a bit graver today. Half of the people in there had a miserable grimace in place of their usual tired smiles. She couldn't figure out why. She walked over to Nancy, the main receptionist and asked, "What's going on?"

"It's that Danforth kid," she replied. "I got a call from his parents today. They said he's been missing for over twenty four hours. They have no idea where he is. Isn't that scary?" Ms. Michella nodded, her head swimming. Chad, missing? How could this happen? He was such a funny, nice kid. What could possibly have happened to him?

"Katie?" Nancy asked, bringing Ms. Michella out of her reverie.

"Yeah? Sorry,"

"I was just wondering if you had the attendance."

"Oh, yeah. Everyone was here, except for Chad," Katie briskly walked out of the room. God she hoped Chad was okay.

Similar events happened to all of the other teachers who had Chad in their class that day. The Danforths had asked the faculty to not say anything to the students until absolutely necessary. They didn't want to worry them until they knew for sure something was wrong. In short, they wanted to see whether or not Chad would come back first.

--4 days later--

"Man, where is he?" Tory asked, aggravated. Chad was either, dying, or faking it. There was no way he could miss an entire week of school, when school was so close to being over anyway. Troy doubted he would fake it for this long. The last few days of school were fun. You could screw around as much as you wanted because the teachers were far past caring anymore.

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything from him," Zeke responded.

"Me neither," Troy had tried calling Chad a million times over the week to see what was wrong with him. Every time he asked to talk, Mr. or Mrs. Danforth would hastily assure him that Chad would be back soon, and then quickly hang up.

Troy could sense that something was wrong. What was wrong, he had absolutely no clue. He was planning on finding out though. Troy knew, that if something was wrong with Chad, he would tell him, Troy, his best friend. Since Chad hadn't said anything, it only seemed to worry him more, as if Chad couldn't or wouldn't tell him what was happening. Troy was determined to find out what was occurring, the only question was, 'how?'

**A/n: So I know these kinds of chapters are kind of boring, but they need to happen. In the next chapter, I'm gonna let everyone else find out, I'm not sure if Chad will be in that chapter or the one after it. Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n: Yeah, I don't really have anything to say. Thanks for the reviews. I love reviews, even if it is as short as 'yeah!' or 'good chapter' I still really like it. So please, and now I sound like a beggar, Review!**

**Chapter 4: Alone**

--Friday--

"Mom, do you know what's going on with Chad?" Troy asked, eyeing his mother suspiciously.

"No, sweetie, is he sick?" Lucy Bolton asked, not quite making eye contact with her only son.

"I guess. He didn't go to school all week. Everyone's pretty worried. No one knows what's going on."

"That's too bad. I'll bet he's back to school by Monday," Lucy said cheerily, busying herself with random things in the kitchen. Troy continued to watch her, sensing she wasn't telling him everything.

"Mom, if something was wrong, you would tell me, right?"

"Of course sweetie." Lucy tensed. Troy noticed.

"Then tell me. What's wrong with Chad?" he said it a bit too forcefully, but he didn't care. He wanted answers. He wanted them now.

"Don't talk to me like that, Troy James Bolton!" Lucy screeched, her temper flaring.

"If you won't tell me, I'm going to find out myself!" Troy sprinted away from his mother, whom he hadn't noticed suddenly crying.

She wished she could tell Troy, but she knew the Danforths had asked her not too. The thing was, Troy would find out eventually. She just wished he wouldn't. She wished that maybe they would find Chad before anyone found out he was missing. Before Troy found out. They could act like it never happened; like he was just sick for a week. Lucy had a terrible feeling that Chad wasn't coming back anytime soon, and it was tearing her up inside. Poor Chad! Poor Hannah, and Richard, and Annabelle, and Teddy! She wished she could do something for them, but there was little if anything that could be done.

--

Troy was sprinting through the streets and yards. Everything zoomed by in a huge blur. Trees, cars, it all was just hazy shadows to him as he tore onto Chad's house. When he came within sight of it, he slowed down. He made his way cautiously, not wanting Mrs. Danforth to call his parents on him.

He crept into their backyard. He could see Chad's window. All of the lights in the house were off. There was no movement in the house that Troy could see. If Chad was really that sick, he wouldn't be able to leave the house, right? The thought of a hospital entered Troy's mind, but he shook it off. There was no way Chad was actually _that_ sick. Troy had nothing to back up this thought, but that didn't matter to him.

He had snuck into Chad's room a few times before; if Chad was grounded, if _he_ was grounded, or if Troy had fought with his parents. Every once in a while, they'd sneak out together, climbing down the drain pipe. Troy was now using the pipe to go up to Chad's room. It was a hard job. It was slippery from yesterday's rain. He was trying to make as little noise as possible, just in case the entire family was in there. He eventually got to the top and carefully opened the window.

Chad's room was empty. It looked the exact same as when he'd last seen it. There was nothing peculiar or out of the ordinary about this room. That's what worried Troy. No tissues or medicine containers. No messy bed or clothes lying around. No junk or food wrappers. It was _clean_. Chad's room hadn't been this clean in the entire ten years Troy had known him. There was nothing to indicate that he was sick. There was absolutely no proof that Chad had truly ever _lived_ in this room.

Troy looked around for some kind of a clue as to what was happening to Chad. Besides the bizarre neatness of the room, there wasn't anything else.

Unexpectedly, Troy heard a car pull into the driveway. He panicked. He really did not want to be caught here. Yet, his unquenchable curiosity led him down the stairs to the first floor. He could see the Danforths coming up their walk. Without thinking, he hid in the nearest closet.

He left it open a small crack. The family entered, but without Chad. Chad was nowhere to be found. He knew it! Something was up! Troy quickly planned his next move. He would wait until the family went upstairs, and then quietly sneak out through the door. It's not like they had an alarm system or anything; and Corbin certainly wasn't going to bark at him, Corbin had known Troy for as long as the Danforths had owned him. In Corbin's mind, Troy was as big a part in this family as Chad was.

Troy just hoped they would go upstairs quickly, because he would be beyond embarrassed if he was found out like this. A random notion entered Troy's mind. This is how easy it would be if someone was breaking into the house. If Troy were a burglar or something, he could do some serious damage here without breaking a sweat. The fact that there hadn't been a burglary in Albuquerque in Troy's memory, made him push this thought, too, out of mind.

"Okay kids, its eight o'clock. Go up to bed. We'll be up to kiss you in a second," Mrs. Danforths voice was tired, strained. Troy could see that she had huge circles under her eyes, and she seemed more wrinkled than the last time he'd seen her, and that had been just last week! Mr. Danforth was in the same state. He ran a hand through his slightly gray hair, sighing loudly.

"Momma, where's Chad?" Teddy asked for the billionth time. Troy edged forward, not wanting to miss a word. Teddy looked expectantly at his mother.

"He's, out, Teddy," Mrs. Danforth said carefully.

"When's he coming back?"

"I'm, not sure exactly. Soon, I hope," This answer puzzled Troy. Chad was definitely not hanging out with any of them tonight. Troy was confident that the second Chad was able to, he would call Troy to do something. They had been best friends for over ten years! It just didn't add up.

"Okay. Can you tell him to kiss me goodnight when he comes home?" Teddy smiled hopefully.

"Sure. Annabelle take your brother up. Brush your teeth, both of you," Mrs. Danforth watched her two children climb the flight of stairs. Troy noticed Annabelle turn back. She looked confused, perplexed. Troy assumed a similar expression lined his own face. She looked, almost, _angry_, as if she too, wasn't getting the answers she wanted. She got to the top and walked to her room. Troy turned his attention back to Mr. and Mrs. Danforth.

Did she have tears in her eyes? Was she _crying_? Troy had a feeling he would be getting some answers in a moment. Richard stood up and hugged his wife, blocking her from Troy's view.

"We'll have to tell them at some point Hannah," Mr. Danforth said quietly. Troy could barely hear him. He pressed his face against the door.

"Where is my baby, Richard?" Hannah asked softly.

"We'll find him. I promise. He'll be back before you know it. We will find Chad. I swear." He rubbed her back. She nodded, though they both knew that he could not make that promise. He shushed her. She had stopped crying. She wiped her tears as Mr. Danforth let go of her. Simultaneously, they both trumped up the stairs where their two remaining children were waiting for their good night kiss.

Troy stayed frozen long after all the lights had been turned off. He glanced at his watch, the bluish green screen shining: 9.37. Troy silently opened the closet. Without making a single noise, he made his way over Corbin to the door. Like a ghost, Troy exited. He floated across the front lawn, sparkling with dew.

Once he got to the road, he sprinted. Where he was going, he had no clue. Within a few minutes, he found himself at the same ice cream parlor that he and Chad had taken Gabriella and Taylor to just last Friday. He sat down on the same bench where they had discussed math and the soon-to-be-over school year. They had joked around. It had been completely normal.

They had gone back to Chad's house that afternoon. Troy couldn't remember anything weird about that night. They'd played a little basketball in the dark, because it's more fun that way. They'd gone to bed at 4.00 in the morning, as usual. Nothing had been different, yet that was the last time he'd seen Chad.

Troy thought about all of the possibilities of Chad's whereabouts. They hung out here a lot. The pizza parlor, but Chad wouldn't stay there for a week. Troy racked his brain. Where could he be?

Without thinking, Troy was on his feet and walking. He didn't look back. Next he came upon the old playground he and Chad would hang around late at night. They'd laugh at how stupid they'd looked in the slide or the merry-go-round. They'd fly off of the swings. They'd shoot hoops at the nearby outdoor court. It was fun here. Like being a little kid again, but, being able to appreciate it more. It's ten times 

more fun playing in a sandbox when you're twelve. You're not doing it because you like it; you're doing it for the sheer idiocy of it.

Of course, Chad wasn't here, but Troy still found himself searching. Eventually, he sat on the swing, lazily twisting himself around. There was no way Chad had run away, Troy would've known. Troy would've _gone. _The Danforths obviously didn't know where he was, so… what did that mean?

Lost? Not likely. Hiding? That was stupid. _Kidnapped_? Troy shuddered at the thought. The more and more he contemplated it, it seemed the only thing that made sense. Why else would Chad be missing for an entire week? Troy refused to even think of possible death. He simply wouldn't believe that. Kidnapped, compared to death, was easier to accept, so that's what Troy decided on.

So, Chad was kidnapped, presumably. Oh my God! Kidnapped! How was this possible?! There was absolutely no reason anyone in Albuquerque would kidnap Chad. It just wasn't possible. But it was. That was the only probable thing Troy could think of. Even if he was dead, and Troy was still pushing this from his mind, they would have found a body or something. There were obviously no clues to where Chad was, so the police knew nothing.

What could he, a twelve year old boy, do to find and help Chad? Troy had nothing. He couldn't think of anything that he could possibly do. He yelled out in frustration. This couldn't be happening! He tugged on his hair, wishing he could just really feel the pain he felt in his mind at that moment. He slid off the swings and pounded his fists on the ground, a regular two-year-olds temper tantrum. He thought of Annabelle. Did she even know what was happening? Troy doubted it, though she was definitely trying to figure it out. He thought about Teddy, sweet naïve Teddy. He had absolutely no clue what was happening. He could see the scene of Mrs. Danforth crying before his very eyes.

Clearly, his mother had known what was going on, and Troy couldn't exactly blame her for wanting to protect him from this. He wished he was_ still_ protected from this. He assumed the school knew what was going on. All of his friends must still have no idea. Oh, god! Should he tell them, or wait for them to find out? He pictured Taylor's face, and he knew he couldn't be the one to destroy her like that. No, he would bear this alone, for the time being. He wouldn't let on that he knew anything, but he would continue to look for some small trace of where Chad might be. He was all alone.

**A/n: Yeah, sorry this took forever. I couldn't decide if I wanted this to be two chapters, or one really long one. I've decided on two. So you'll get the next really quickly.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/n: So this is the second half of the chapter. It's pretty short, but it's exciting enough.**

**Chapter 5: Alone (again)**

--Sunday--

A dark room. Silence. Chad opened his eyes to find absolutely nothing. It was pitch black, he had no clue where he was, how he got there, or what was happening. He realized he was bound to a chair. This was enough to jog his memory for him to remember what had happened that morning. Fighting with his mom, losing Corbin, getting lost. And finally, that daunting man.

Oh my God! That man! Chad suddenly remembered who he was. It was so long ago; months! So he had run into him, and now he was, like, what, kidnapped?! What the hell? Though the beard was longer, and he looked crazier, Chad was sure it was the same man who'd been crying in front of the cemetery on Gabi's birthday.

Seriously, what the hell? Chad was really confused. So here he was, kidnapped, by someone he had never done anything to. Sure, he had accidentally knocked the guy over, but that wasn't reason enough to kidnap someone. There really was never a reason to kidnap someone. Chad remembered the odd way the man had stared at him. The way he'd felt someone watching him for weeks. What if, this guy had been following him? Watching him?

The thought made Chad tremble. He realized he couldn't stop. He was shaking so hard, the chair was moving. He had no idea where he was or what he was going to do. Out of nowhere, his stomach grumbled. He hadn't even realized he was hungry, and that was saying something!

How long would this guy keep him here? What did he want from him? What had Chad done to deserve this? Was he going to die? What the hell?!

Suddenly, light poured through a crack near the ceiling. A door opening. Chad saw a silhouette move forward. The door closed. Chad's teeth were chattering. It was freezing in here! He had no idea where the figure was, but sensed it close by. Chad struggled with the bonds that tied him to his wooden chair.

From out of nowhere, Chad received a hard slap on the cheek. He yelled out in surprise and pain. This earned him a blow to the head. He clenched his teeth together, but could not altogether stop them from chattering. The figure moved about silently. Finally, the man spoke, "What's your name?"

"I told you already, it's Chad Danforth,"

"So you remember me?" Silence. Chad was trying to figure out what his options were. "Answer me!" the man roared, as he smacked Chad again.

"Yes!" Chad yelled. The man continued his pacing. His feet made a soft thud with every step. Chad was breathing hard, but the man couldn't have cared less.

"You're name isn't Chad." He stated it simply, Chad shook harder.

"Yes, it is. I swear!"

"No! It's not!" The man's voice was harsh, cold, rough. Chad cringed away from him, expecting another hit. "You're name is Riley. Riley Davids," Chad shook his head, letting a small whimper escape. The man hit him again. Chad howled out again, now crying.

"Please, let me go!" he didn't know what to do. He was scared out of his mind.

"You aren't going anywhere!" Chad sobbed harder, causing the man to hit him, and him to yell out. It was a huge torturous chain of pain. "If you try to leave, I'll kill you!"

"No! Please don't! Just let me go!"

"If you ever leave, I'll kill you. I'll kill you, and you're family! I know exactly where you live!" The man was screaming maniacally. Chad couldn't breathe. He was trembling beyond control.

"Please! No! Don't kill them!"

"I'll kill your mom, and your dad. And Annabelle and Teddy! I'll kill them all!" though Chad couldn't see it, the man, too, was trembling, but from pure rage.

"No! Don't!" Chad continued to plead.

"And Zeke and Jason; and Gabriella; and Taylor; and Troy. They'll all be dead if you ever try to leave; if you ever tell anyone. They will all die! It will be all your fault!"

Chad could do nothing more than whimper. He was so terrified. "You will never leave, Riley Davids! You will stay here forever!" The voice was floating away, higher. The door opened, and momentarily, light flooded the room. Chad blinked through his tears. The man turned to face him before he closed the door. The light played off his face at an odd angle, shadowing half of his face and illuminating the other half. The sight was absolutely horrifying. This man was without a doubt, insane.

The door closed, and Chad was alone. Completely and totally alone.

**A/n: So it's probably my shortest chapter ever, but its way easier to read. Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/n: Yeah, again, a long update period. I'm hoping by now, you'll be expecting me to take forever on each story, so you are no longer disappointed. Idk, you still might be, but hopefully now that it's summer I'll have more time to update. Hopefully.**

**Chapter 6: To Tell or Not to Tell?**

--Monday--

Troy entered his last week of school in a daze. He'd hardly slept all weekend. He hadn't bothered to finish any of his last few homework assignments, though they were all due within the next few days. He'd hardly even spoken; not even to his family or his friends. He just couldn't process all that was happening around him.

Chad was gone. He had no idea where he was. He hadn't seen him in over a week. Only a few people knew: Chad's parents, the police, Troy's parents, and some school faculty members. These were the people Troy was sure knew. There was no way any of his friends knew. If they did, they would be just as distraught as he was now, and it was hard enough for him to hide it. Luckily, he was a good actor. Though his mom didn't say anything, she probably knew what was going on with Troy, but she seemed to be passing it off as some adolescent thing. His father, as usual, took no real notice in anything about Troy's life.

As Troy entered math class, he noticed Ms. Michella glance quickly at him. Before he could even muster a smile to her, she looked back down at her papers. Weird. During roll, Troy looked around the room, trying to see if anyone would react to Chad's absence. To see if anyone knew. Much to his surprise, Ms. Michella skipped Chad in roll call. Troy looked up at her to see her hair swept over her face, hiding her slightly wet eyes as she called Fred Dalberg's name. She wiped her eyes when she thought no one was looking. Troy guessed that she knew. And that she was taking it hard. Okay, so if Chad's math teacher was crying, how would Taylor, his _girlfriend,_ react? Troy shuddered at the thought.

They worked in silence for most of the class, until the end where they were allowed to talk and work on other homework that they were too lazy to complete over the weekend. Troy saw Ms. Michella discreetly wipe her nose and wished he could go comfort her.

As the bell rang, he took his time gathering his things together. Before he knew it, they were the last two in the class room. She was still sniffling. Out of nowhere, Troy heard himself say, "Don't worry. They'll find him soon." He was convincing her as much as he was convincing himself. She looked up in surprise.

"I know, Troy," she said quietly. "This is just so horrible. I thought for sure he'd be back by now."

"Yeah," Troy said awkwardly. What was he supposed to say?

"You know, I had a relative-my second cousin, I think-he looked a lot like Chad. Acted like him too. But, well, a few months ago, he… Well, I just really hope Chad comes back. I can't deal with that twice," She wiped her eyes again. "He's just such a nice boy."

"Yeah," Troy said again, as lost in his own thoughts as she was. She seemed like she was done, so he quietly slipped out of the room, trying to give her a smile, but only grimacing.

God, how was he ever going to get through today? And then tomorrow? How was he supposed to get through this?

--

"Gabriella, do you think Chad is really sick?" Taylor asked, mixing an acidic solution and then testing it to see how it compared to lemon juice.

"What do you mean? Like he's faking or something?" Gabriella asked distractedly, recording their results on a graph.

"No, like is he _really _sick? You know, like hospital for days sick?" Taylor explained.

"Well, I hope not," Gabriella looked at Taylor. "Have you talked to him at all?"

"No. Not since last week. I'm really worried about him. His parents just keep saying 'he's sick, but he'll be better soon.' So what am I supposed to think?" Taylor squinted, furrowing her brow, something she always did when she was lost in thought.

"Well, if it was something really bad, we would know about it," Gabriella said confidently, going back to the experiment. Yeah, she was worried about Chad too, but she knew his parents wouldn't keep something huge from them, so it must just be the flu or something.

A few minutes passed in silence. Gabriella thought about something else that was bothering her. "Hey Taylor?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Troy's been acting weird today?"

"Yeah. He was really quiet at lunch. He seems really moody. Why?"

"Well, over the weekend he canceled all of our plans. What do you think is bugging him?"

"Wait. Maybe he knows something about Chad. Maybe it's something really bad and he just found out about it and it's, like, eating him up inside," Taylor looked worried again.

"I don't know. I know for sure Troy would tell us if he knew something. He's knows how much you've been worrying about Chad," Gabriella said certainly.

"Unless it was something really bad. He'd probably try to be all 'noble' or something by not telling us. He'd think he'd be protecting us or something. It would be just like him," Taylor was sure she was right and nothing Gabi could say would change her new resolve. She would get the truth from Troy. Somehow.

"Well, if you're so sure, you could just ask him about it," Gabriella thought Taylor was probably exaggerating everything, but she was kind of curious about Chad, so she wasn't about to dissuade Taylor form finding out.

"I think I will," Taylor said as the final bell of the day rang. Four more days of school. Whoopee. There were so many more important things to think about right now. Like how she was going to get information out of Troy. If Chad had been here, he might have even helped her. Or told her to mind her own business. But this was her business, so it didn't matter if she was being nosy. She wanted to know what was going on.

--

"Troy, what's going on?" Taylor asked sternly. So much for creativeness.

"Nothing," Troy answered. So much for acting.

"Don't give me that. You've been really weird all day," she wasn't going to let him avoid this. She was getting answers. Now. Yeah, she was going to be bossy, but she couldn't have cared less.

"It's nothing, seriously," Troy really wished he could walk away, but he knew all too well that Taylor would hound him all the way home. She would probably follow him into his house. Should he tell her? If they didn't find Chad soon, she'd find out eventually. Troy wished they would just find Chad before then.

"Is it about Chad? Is there something wrong with him?" she watched his face for any sign of confirmation. He refused to meet her eyes. Bingo. He was hiding something.

"Taylor…" What could he say to make her go away? He just wanted to go home and forget all about this.

"Troy, just tell me. I can handle it, I swear!"

"No! NO you can't! I can't handle it so how could you?" Troy turned and sprinted away leaving Taylor to stare dumbfound after him. Okay. Now she was scared. There was no way she was going home now. He couldn't just say that and then leave. She knew he wanted nothing more than for her to go away, but she wanted nothing more than to get the truth. And because it is human nature to normally do what you want, she went to his house, only a few blocks from her own.

She knocked on the door. No answer. She tried again. Nothing. A third, impatient time. Nada. Frustrated she shouted, "You can't ignore me forever Troy Bolton! You'll have to face me at some point!" she stormed off like the brat she was acting like.

Little did she know Troy wasn't even at his house. He was at the old park, sitting by himself on the swing, looking at the gray clouds looming overhead. How could he tell her, or Gabriella, or Zeke, or Jason? They did deserve to know. He should tell them.

--

As Troy walked up to his house, he saw Taylor stomping off. He called her back and within seconds he let her into the house. He told her to sit while he got some water for them. He knew for a fact that she was going to be freaking out momentarily. He might as well prepare now.

"So are you going to tell me what's going on?" Taylor asked, cooling off now that she knew Troy wasn't going to run away again.

"Yeah," Man, this was hard. "Um, Chad, he's not sick."

"I knew it!" Taylor said triumphantly. But seeing Troy's expression sobered her enough to ask, "So what is happening with him?"

"Taylor…" Troy was uncertain again. Should he do this?

"Just tell me," Taylor said, her voice shaking a bit. This was bad, she could feel it.

"Taylor, he's…missing," Troy whispered the word so that Taylor leaned forward to hear. "I think he's been kidnapped," his voice broke. He drank a huge gulp of water. Taylor copied him. She was silent for a while before she asked,

"What are the police doing?"

"I don't think they have any leads, yet," Troy tacked on the last word, trying to keep Taylor in a sane state of mind. She looked like she was about to lose it. Should he have told? Crap, she was shaking now! He put an arm around her, trying to comfort her as she began to cry while she processed this.

Troy grabbed the phone off of the side table and called Gabriella, hoping she could help Taylor. It would also be a good time to fill her in. As he though about it, he also called Zeke and Jason and asked them to come over. It wasn't something he'd be able to tell them on the phone.

Within ten minutes, all three of them had come over and he'd filled them each in. They all sat in his living room, staring aimlessly around, not knowing what to do. Troy mumbled something about wishing he hadn't done this, but no one paid any attention to him. Gabriella was comforting Taylor and Zeke and Jason just sat silently. Taylor was now crying quietly.

Troy noticed it was 4.30. His mom would be home soon. He really didn't want her coming home to this, but he didn't know how to get these guys to leave. All he wanted to do was sit in his room and blast his music so loud that he wouldn't be able to think. Luckily, Jason bowed out and the others followed his lead. As Gabriella walked Taylor home, she turned to give Troy a sad smile. She mouthed 'thank you' before closing the Bolton's front door behind her. Troy was relieved that she wasn't angry with him for telling.

As Gabriella and Taylor walked back to the McKessie residence, she tried as hard as she could to comfort Taylor, but nothing she said could make Taylor stop crying. She hugged her all the way home. When they got to the house, Gabriella was the one to explain to Ms. McKessie what had happened. She had to keep her head right now. When she got home, she could curl into a ball in her bed. But right now, she had to be strong, for Taylor.

She hugged Taylor one last time before walking to her own home. In the distance, she could hear heavy metal music. She recognized the song as one of Troy's favorites. Poor Troy, he had to be taking this hard.

--

Taylor didn't show up at school the next day. She came on Wednesday, but hardly spoke a word. Friday was their last day of school. Most of the kids rejoiced, but a select few students couldn't have cared less.

On Saturday the Danforthsformally announced what happened. Troy's mom forced him to come with her and his father to give them some crappy basket of food, as if that would fix everything. He passed Zeke on the way in and tried to smile, but it was an impossible task at that moment.

Annabelle came down to get a glass of water during their visit. She looked angry and distraught. Teddy didn't come down. Troy thought he probably still had no idea what was happening. He was only three after all. Annabelle probably didn't understand the magnitude of what was going on. Mr. and Mrs. Danforth were beside themselves. They thanked the Boltons for the food and hugged Troy, but when Mrs. Danforth began crying, Troy's parents decided it was time to leave.

Chad wasn't found over the summer. He didn't come back in seventh grade. He was still missing when the teens graduated eighth grade. By the beginning of high school, the town of Albuquerque had all but given up on finding him. He was a distant memory in the lives of those who had known him. Teddy couldn't even remember what he'd looked like. It hurt too much to see a picture of him, so the Danforths had stashed every picture of Chad in his old bedroom, which they kept the same at all times. No one was allowed in there. It was kept locked at all times. All evidence of Chad's existence was kept in that room, with the key in the bottom drawer of Mrs. Danforth's dresser.

It was almost if he'd never existed.

**A/n: Long chapter, lots of stuff happening. Please Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Okay, so this is kinda like part 2; the second half of this story. Woot woot, didn't think I'd actually keep with it this far. So this chapter is going to be in two parts because I made it like, 3000 words, so this will be easier to read. Review! **

**Chapter 7: Mysteries**

Darkness. Screaming- his own. Shaking; starvation; a strong sense of terror. Desolation and desertion. No one to seek comfort from. All alone. A strong smack, another scream erupting from deep inside. Another blow. An endless circle. The smell of old and new blood. Finally, he got what he was waiting for; a bottle of water held up to his mouth to drink. He did so gratefully; until he tasted what was within. He spat it out. Blood. No, this couldn't be! NO!

Riley shot up in bed, sweating and shaking, just as he'd done in the dream. Thank god it was only a dream, though it seemed more real, almost as if from a past life of sorts. He had the odd feeling this wasn't the first time he'd had the dream, either. Without realizing it, he'd bitten down on his lip. He'd probably done it subconsciously to keep it from screaming. That explained the gruesome ending to the dream. His lip was bleeding. Sighing, he walked into the bathroom to get some water.

He turned the shower on as he scooped water from the sink in his hands. The cool liquid hit his face and his lip. It felt good. He looked at his reflection. He hated his hair when it was short like this; but his dad hated it when it was longer, so he had to get a major cut every once in awhile. His deep brown eyes looked slightly bloodshot. He glanced at the clock on the sink, 5.30. Great, could he have woken up any earlier? Oh well, he did have some stupid paper to finish anyway. The extra time would help.

Without knowing it, he felt his newly acquired lip ring. Maybe he hadn't bit his lip; maybe the ring had dug in again. It kept doing that and it was really annoying. The girl who did it had said it would stop swelling in a few days. Well, it had been a week, and this was till happening. At least Kathy, one of the prettiest girls at school, had said it looked hot. She was also one of the sluttiest; but Riley liked her. She'd welcomed him warmly when he'd been the new loserish kid. God; what a dork he'd been then. Skinny, awkward, with a slightly hollow look. But she'd been nice and he would forever be crushing on her for it.

He shed his holey shirt and inspected his chest. His six pack was getting more and more defined by the day. He was now bench pressing 175 every day. He examined his favorite tattoo on his right bicep. If he flexed his muscle, the anchor would grow and shrink. How cool would it be to join the navy someday? He slipped off the rest of his clothes and jumped in the shadow, letting the scalding hot water pelt his body. He sighed, very content. He'd already forgotten the dream.

--

"Riley, hurry up!" a raspy voice called.

"Coming, Dad!" Riley called. He printed the now finished copy of his report on Romeo and Juliet. He hoped he was ready for the test. He had to keep at least a C- average to stay in basketball. He grabbed his fresh, clean paper and sprinted downstairs to the breakfast table, skipping the last four steps with one huge jump. A spread of eggs, bacon, and sausage covered the table. Riley hungrily grabbed everything that was left. Behind his morning paper, his dad chuckled at the amount of food on his plate. His dad was a respectable looking, always clean-shaven man. He looked a lot like Riley, with curly hair and the same, deep brown eyes. He was also very fit like Riley. They often went to the gym together to see who could lift heavier weights longer. They were the perfect example of a father/son relationship.

"What time you'd get up, son?" his father asked distractedly while chewing his eggs.

"Like, 5.30," he answered, between wolfing down his food and orange juice. He remembered the source of his early morning. "I had some crazy nightmare, and I had to finish a report anyway so I just got ready early."

"What report?"

"Some stupid thing on Romeo and Juliet,"

"I hated that book in high school,"

"I know. But all the girls are, like, in love with it or something,"

"Yeah, well we have to get going," Riley Davids Sr. looked at the clock. 7.45. Good thing they only lived two seconds from the school. It was a small, out of the way school. It only hosted about three hundred students. With only seventy five kids per grade, it was a high school where everyone knew everyone. They lived in a small town called Moors with many other small towns around it. A few miles out was the comparatively big city of Albuquerque.

Riley had always wanted to visit the city, but for some odd reason his father had forbade it. Whenever asked the reason for this, his father would mumble something about a 'traumatic childhood experience there' and would say no more on the subject. Riley still found it very odd. Someday, if he dared to disobey his father's direct orders, he would visit and explore.

The problem was, he wouldn't dare disobey _him_. Though on the outside his father was happy and normal, Riley suspected he had some kind of bipolar disease. Sometimes, the tiniest things would set him on a large rampage. The biggest of these tiny things was when Riley used to ask about his life before the concussion.

When he was about twelve, Riley had been biking on an early Sunday morning and had been going far too fast. Being the stupid preteen he was, he hadn't bothered with a helmet. All he could remember was a lot of darkness and paranoia. But his father had helped him piece his life back together slowly. He hadn't been biking since.

Once, he dared to ask about his mother. His father had gotten so angry that Riley… but no, he didn't want to think about it now.

The pair got in the car. Riley complained as usual about driving. He _was_ seventeen, why shouldn't he get to actually use the license once in awhile? But, as usual, his father insisted on driving. A few minutes later, Riley jumped out of the car and headed to the front steps of the modest school, waving good-bye to his dad as he headed off to the automobile shop. That was another thing they had in common-they both loved cars. Especially old ones. Riley could tell you anything about any car from 1930, to the present. If only he could drive a car once in awhile.

--

Riley walked alone to his locker. Riley walked to each class alone. Riley sat alone at lunch. Riley didn't get to go to fun hang out places with other teens. Sure people had offered to sit with him or walk with him or go hang out sometime. But Riley wasn't allowed to do that kind of thing. So, after awhile, the invitations got fewer and fewer until no one would even talk to him.

But basketball, that was a different story entirely. For some weird reason, it was all different in basketball. On the team he was captain. He was by far the best player. He had the most blocks because he had the highest jump. He had the most points because of his superb aim. He was a good team player. In basketball he could do whatever he wanted. He ruled.

The team never excluded him; on the contrary, he was the coolest kid there. Everyone always wanted to be around him there. But outside of the gym; off of the court; the magic ended. He was still the friendless loser. His teammates ignored him in the hallway. He never hung out with them outside of the sport. They weren't mean or anything, just cold.

Then he would enter the shining haven called the gym and it would all be back. He was cool and popular and actually acknowledged. He was king here. Who wouldn't love that?

But, one could only force so many practices on the team. There could only be so many after-game parties. Why couldn't all of life be basketball? That would be perfect. If only it were so.

**A/n: End of part one of this chapter. Next one will come really quickly. I hope this one's not too short. ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/n: Okay, so part 2 of the chapter. Enjoy, this is where it gets interesting. There is language and a bit of sexual content in this chapter, so shield your eyes if you don't want to read it.**

**Chapter 8: More Mysteries**

Riley walked home after school every day. He walked slowly; he had nothing to do and nowhere to go; practice wasn't until 4.30. He kicked a small stone over and over. A chocolate Labrador ran by. Riley had always loved dogs, particularly Labs. The Lab stopped and came back, allowing Riley to pet him.

It was starting to get chilly. The wind snapped at Riley, urging him to go faster. Riley obliged. He gave the dog one final pat and walked away. He hoped it would rain soon; they hadn't had rain all month.

Riley thought about random things as he entered his house. His dad wouldn't be home until after practice. He had the house all to himself for an hour. He logged onto the computer, a shabby, cheap older model. The automobile job didn't exactly roll in the cash. But Riley didn't mind. No one was really rich in a small town like Moors. He checked his email and the schools bulletin board online. The school had just set up this system so the students and their parents could check their grades and see any homework they may have missed.

Crap! He'd gotten a D- on that Romeo and Juliet test! Well, he hadn't really studied, so he kinda expected it. At least he didn't fail. He scrolled down to see how his paper had done. His teacher, Miss Julie, always graded papers quickly. She was one of those girls who happened to be crazy about Romeo and Juliet, probably because her name was Julie. How lucky that she had just taught his junior class the play. Yes! He'd actually managed an A- on that paper! He scrolled down a bit more to see his average. That paper had been major a grade, but not as big as the test.

Fuck! D+. Great. Well, he would have to see her tomorrow about some kind of extra credit. He really hoped Coach Mantanella wouldn't find out until he brought it back up. He also hoped a bit more desperately that his dad didn't find out. He would get _really_ mad.

Today was not a good day. He'd been late to morning practice and had to do ten extra laps. And he just noticed on the bulletin that he had algebra homework. He hadn't brought any of those books home. _And _he had it first period tomorrow, so he'd have to go to school really early. There was no way his dad, who'd be driving him, wouldn't find out about that.

4.27. _Fuck_! Riley must have dozed off due to the early morning. He began racing around the house, gathering his practice gear. Two minutes later he was sprinting out the door. He passed the same Lab hanging around the neighborhood. He hoped it would go home; his dad was allergic.

He was panting when he swung the gym doors open. He glanced quickly at the clock. 4.35. _Great_. Now after running all the way here, he would have to run extra laps. Well, there was no point in stalling; he joined his teammates in running. They greeted him heartily. Since coach hadn't shown up yet, they told him they could just say he'd been there five minutes earlier.

After he finished his laps, Riley decided to try to get his algebra stuff from his locker. Since Coach still wasn't there for some reason, Riley thought he could just go quickly, come back, and join his team in drills. He walked up to the third floor. Yes! The door for the second hallway was still open! He got his books and went back to the gym. This day was getting better and better.

He put the books next to his water bottle and joined the team. Coach Mantanella had showed up at the same time and he seemed in a good mood. After a warm-up scrimmage, Coach took him aside.

"Riley, Ms. Julie told me you now have a D+ in her class," he didn't look too angry, which made Riley feel more at ease.

"Yes sir. But I'm going to do some extra credit to bring it back up to a C," Coach nodded and smiled.

"Okay, but make sure it's back up by the end of the week,"

"Sure thing," Riley knew he was dismissed so he joined the others in their layup drill. Wow, he hadn't even been suspended from the team for one practice! This day was getting good.

--

Another flawless basketball practice. Another fun time with the temporary friends. As Riley strolled home slowly, carrying his algebra books this time, he thought about a possible reason to his father's strictness. He'd always assumed it had something to do with the concussion. Maybe his dad thought it would happen again or something. But Riley was very lonely.

You can't have friends when you can't go places with people. You can't go over to their house; and they can't come home to your house. So Riley was either alone, with his father, or with the team. He always did school projects alone, which suited everyone else just fine; no one wanted to be partners with the stupid weird kid. Riley wasn't exactly dumb, he just didn't try very hard. He also never slept well.

Almost every night he had horrible nightmares that were similar to the one he'd had last night. He didn't always wake up so early, but he rarely got a full night's sleep. These nightmares haunted him during a lot of his alone time. He would think about them a lot. What did they mean? Why did they seem so real? Had something like this happened before the concussion?

The concussion. That damn concussion. It had blocked out three fourths of his life. It was like, before he was twelve, he hadn't existed. There were certain things around him that gave him the odd feeling of knowing or seeing them before. Like that Lab, he really felt a weird connection to that Lab. And basketball- that was the first thing he'd turned to once he'd gotten his life back in order. And for some really weird reason, diamonds had always had a strange appeal to him.

And Albuquerque, why did he always have such a strong desire to go there? He'd always thought that perhaps that's where the concussion had happened, but his father wouldn't tell him. His father never told him anything. Riley had a feeling his father was hiding something from him. Something big. But what that was, Riley had absolutely no clue.

The weirdest thing of all was that, sometimes when he was alone for a long time, he would start to imagine things. It was like an alternate universe. He had a dog, siblings, and two parents. He had friends and a girlfriend. Then he would feel a huge, unbearable sadness that he could not control or place. He would remember darkness and pain. What these visions meant were a huge mystery to Riley. He certainly wasn't going to mention these to his father. The first time he'd had one of these visions, he had asked his father about it. His father had gotten so inexplicably angry!

He'd hurt Riley. He'd hurt him a lot. He hurt him often and severely. He hurt him in different ways. Horrible ways. Riley couldn't bear to think about some of the things his father had done to him.

But it had been slowing down. His father hadn't hurt him in a few weeks. There was more and more space in between his father's rampages. Riley hoped his dad was calming down. He was wrong.

--

10.00. Riley was doing his algebra homework on the living room sofa, wondering why his father was out so late. Suddenly there was a loud banging on the door. Curious, but wary, Riley went to answer it.

On the front door step stood Riley Davids Sr., completely wasted. He was still clutching a half empty whiskey bottle. He was swaying where he stood so Riley helped him into the house. How much had he drunk tonight? Something told Riley that this was not the first bottle that his father had consumed that evening. His clothes and his hair were messy and dirty.

"Dad, why don't you lay down upstairs? I'll make you some coffee," Riley always helped his father when he was drunk; though he wasn't always repaid well. But what else could he do? This was his father.

"Don't you tell me what to do you little bastard!" his father slurred loudly.

"Okay, dad, I'm sorry," Riley said carefully, not wanting to anger him.

"Don't be a fag, boy!" he yelled even louder. Riley was silent. This displeased his father. "Stand up to me you worthless piece of shit!"

"Why don't you just go lay down?" Riley suggested timidly. It was coming, he could sense it. He thought about all of the times he and his dad went to the gym together. His dad could always bench press about fifty more pounds than Riley. Riley had muscle, but his dad was _huge_. Because of this, Riley feared him.

To Riley's surprise, his father actually went upstairs to his room. The house was silent again. Riley made the coffee and headed up to his father's room. He knocked on the door. No answer. He opened it and looked in. His father wasn't in there. Riley set the coffee on the bedside table and turned to leave when… BAM! A wooden baseball bat hit him in the head. Riley spun around and fell to the floor, his vision slipping until he was engulfed in blackness.

That night, like many other nights, Riley Davids was raped.

**A/n: So yeah, a peak into Riley/Chad's new life. Doesn't seem like fun, does it?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/n: I'm going to take a break from Chad's new life and switch over to his old one. **

**Chapter 9: A Long Time Passed**

Troy Bolton was your average teenager. Good-looking, nice, sporty, popular. He was the perfect boy. He was always having fun. Whether it was going on dates with his gorgeous, brilliant girlfriend, Gabriella Montez or scoring the game winning point for the East High basketball team, Troy was always the best. He had plenty of friends, and a huge number of admirers.

Life was perfect. Or so it seemed.

There was only one thing that was different about Troy's life. It wasn't recent; most people had forgotten about it. Thank god. For years, Troy was known as 'the best friend of that guy who disappeared'. It was a never ending reminder of what happened.

But now, people had either forgotten, or stopped caring. Even the police had stopped the investigation after a year or two. His family was accepting the very real possibility that he was probably dead. As much as that hurt, it had been so long now, that it was just a dull ache. No longer was it the sharp, gut-wrenching pain that made Troy want to yell every time he thought about it.

There had been no sign of Chad for five years.

Troy was happy. He had plenty of friends. He was a fair student and a terrific basketball player and captain. He didn't have any enemies. Everyone wanted to be just like Troy Bolton. Life was good.

--

Friday. 6.30 A.M.

Troy woke with a start. He racked his brain to remember the dream he'd just had. It had been intense; but weather it was a nightmare or not, Troy couldn't remember. It was an annoying feeling. After a minute of thinking, he gave up and decided to take a shower.

In the shower, Troy stubbornly refused to give up recalling the dream. It was really bugging him. It had been a while since he'd even had a dream. Months even. It was just hanging in front of his mind; but he couldn't figure it out.

Ten minutes later, Troy got out of the shower and got dressed for school. He put on a simple pair of sport shorts and a plain white tee. He had basketball practice during free today so he might as well prepare to sweat.

He walked down stairs, yawning tiredly. A plate of warm pancakes was set out at the table for him. "Thanks mom!" he called upstairs. A muffled 'You're welcome, honey' answered him. He ate in silence until his father walked down the stairs; signaling that it was time to go to school.

Troy drove his new, used Volkswagen. He'd gotten it for his birthday three weeks ago, and it was his pride and joy. Despite the rising gas prices, Troy drove everywhere. Even to the convenience store, which was only two blocks away. He loved his car.

His father rode with him to school, seeing as how they had to be there at the same time anyway. Ten minutes later, Troy parked in one of the teachers spots and walked to the front door. He his heart dropped when he heard a familiar barking. Sweat lined his brow and he could feel the color drain from his face. He turned around to see Corbin bounding up to him, his tongue hanging out and his tail wagging like mad. Troy turned back to the door, his father had already entered the building; he was alone out here.

Corbin, impervious to Troy's discomfort, nudged his hand. Troy got the message and began scratching his ear, all the while looking for a member of the Danforth family to claim Corbin. When none came, Troy sighed, dreading what he would have to do. He quickly walked Corbin away from the building, in the direction of the house.

He hadn't been this way in months. The house wasn't too far from school, but Troy avoided passing it when possible. It was a good thing Troy had gotten there early or this detour might have made him alter for Darbus' class. She would give him a detention and then he would miss basketball practice. Then his dad would get angry and they would get into a huge fight. Troy had a bit of experience here. He'd already missed two practices this season, and he wasn't planning on repeating the process.

Troy took a back route that only a frequent visitor would have discovered. A few minutes later, Troy arrived in the back yard of the Danforth's house. Troy refused to think 'Chad's house'. He usually refused to think about Chad at all, but that was rather difficult now that he was staring at the window of Chad's old bedroom. He ushered Corbin into the yard. He would have let him stay in the yard but Corbin had already escaped once today; so instead he opened the back door, which he knew would be open, and let Corbin into the kitchen.

Troy froze. He hadn't been near the house in months. He hadn't been _in _the house in years. It looked the same as he remembered it. The small kitchen was as clean as ever. The table was in the middle of the room as always, with a few plates still upon it from breakfast. The only thing in the kitchen that showed any time had passed at all were the pictures lining the walls. There was a family portrait that couldn't have been older than three years. School and vacation pictures were plastered to the refrigerator. They showed a young, middle school girl, who Troy knew to be Annabelle. Next to her was an eight year old likeness of Chad, Teddy. Mr. and Mrs. Danforth looked mostly the same, just a bit more wrinkled and gray.

There was not one picture of Chad.

Wow, being here was hitting him hard. All of the memories he'd tried to block out came rushing to him. Chad spilling a huge bowl of flour on the ground when they were attempting cookies; Troy slipping on puddle of water that Chad hadn't bothered to clean up; eating half of his meals at that table; pigging out in here a few days before Chad had gone missing…

He had to get out of here. Involuntary tears swelled to his eyes. He rushed from the house, slamming the door behind him and ignoring Corbin's barks behind him.

He'd just remembered what he'd dreamed last night; and it only made things worse. It hadn't been the first time he'd had the dream either. He'd dreamed that Chad had come back. He'd just shown up; like nothing had ever happened. Things had been completely normal. They'd gotten ice cream. They'd done stupid stuff at the old playground. They'd had fun. For those few minutes in his bed, Troy had his best friend back.

Troy quickly wiped the tears from his eyes as he neared the school. He had to get over this. There was no way he was going back to therapy. Breathe. Slow, deep breaths. Okay, he was calm now. Troy made his way to his locker. He grabbed his books hurriedly and got to Darbus' class just as the ball rang.

--

"Troy, are you okay?" Gabriela asked, eyeing Troy's pallid countenance. He nodded. She didn't believe him, but decided not to pursue the subject.

Troy managed a half smile that looked more like a grimace. Gabriella eyed him suspiciously as they walked together to the next period. Taylor joined them in the hallway. Troy avoided looking at her. Chad's disappearance had hit him and Taylor a lot harder then Gabriella or Zeke. Yeah, it had been hard for them too, but they didn't think about him constantly, as he and Taylor did.

But everyday it got easier. It had been a few days since Troy had thought about him. It had been awhile since Taylor's eyes had swelled with tears for no visible reason. Every day was better and better. There were fewer things that reminded him of Chad, seeing as how his life had changed so much. It had been a long time.

But today… was a bad day. First that fucking dream, and then Corbin. Why couldn't this just stop? Yes, on the outside, Troy was Mr. Perfect/Happy, but he wasn't always. He used to shut himself up all of the time, wallowing in his own self pity. But he hadn't done that in _so _long. It just wasn't fair to spring things like this on him.

But he wouldn't mention any of this to anyone. Therapy had made him feel like an unstable freak. So he'd made up that it was getting easier. He said he'd stopped having the dreams, and he'd stopped seeing signs of him everywhere. They had let him out of therapy quickly, but it wasn't until a year or two later that he finally started to feel normal again.

The day passed slowly. He couldn't remember a single thing that had happened that day when asked by his mother. It was like he'd slept through the day. He could tell that Gabriella had been really worried about him, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. He had often gone through entire days like that, at first. They all had.

After a very unenthusiastic basketball practice, Troy finally went to his room. He turned on his stereo as loud as it would go. He chose the loudest scream song he had and put it on loop; singing until his voice was too hoarse from the tears and the screaming to continue.

He tried to block out the horrible thoughts running through his head; but they persisted. Chad was gone. He wasn't coming back. He was probably dead. Troy would never have his best friend back again, no matter how much he wanted him.

--

Taylor curled into a ball on her bed. She'd come to school that morning just as Troy had been walking Corbin away. Seeing that dog had almost made her faint. She held herself together until she'd gotten to the bathroom, where she could break down in peace

High school was a lonely time for Taylor. She had no boyfriend, for obvious reasons. So whenever every one paired up to go on dates, Taylor was left alone to remember exactly why she had no date. She spent most of her time with schoolwork. She was constantly working on extra credit that she did not need. She had a 5.0 average. She had to keep busy, or else let horrible thoughts enter her mind.

As long as she had something to do, she was okay. She was in the best shape of her life, because if there was nothing else to do, she would exercise vigorously.

Taylor was in so many clubs and activities, that she had made many friends. Of course, Gabriella was her best friend, but there were a number of people whom Taylor was on very good terms with. Life was good most of the time. She could push unpleasant things to the back of her mind. She, unlike Troy, had gone through enough therapy to where she could cope. She thought about Chad a lot, but she could remember the good things and laugh.

She wasn't about to get another boyfriend, but she could function normally, blend in.

But tonight, she let the walls down. She'd kept them up for so long, but this morning they'd broken. She did not want reminders of Chad following her and Corbin had been a horrible sight. That dog came back without Chad. That dog was the last thing to see Chad before he disappeared. It had hurt her a lot to see the dog, and now that she was alone, she could cry for as long as she needed to without interruption.

A few towns away, Riley Davids suppressed a shudder as he, too cried himself to sleep.

**A/n: I don't like this chapter very much, but I had to write it so I hope you enjoy it.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: Okay, this chapter will appear to be worthless, but it is important, you'll find out why later. And I don't really know if it ever snows in New Mexico or not, but I like snow so it's going to snow.**

**Chapter 10: A Chance at Escaping**

Riley shuddered. He'd just woken himself up _again_! He looked outside at the dark midnight sky. Streaks of lightning crossed the sky at intervals, followed by loud booms of thunder. Some of the rain was freezing, causing a continuous slapping noise on the roof over his head. It was really annoying Riley because he was very tired and wanted to get back to bed. December had just begun. Christmas break was in a few short weeks. Just thinking about having only a year and a half of high school left filled Riley with such a strong feeling of elation that he couldn't help but smile.

He couldn't wait to get out of this hellish life. He didn't care what college he went to as long as it was a good few hours away from here. He sometimes fantasized about playing college basketball. He wondered if he was good enough. He was ready to take control of his own life. He hadn't really talked to his father about college yet, he wasn't even sure if his dad had gone to college himself. One thing Riley was sure about, he was not going to let his dad keep him from doing this.

Riley was able to get back to sleep for another hour or so. But the cold kept creeping in, making the sleep a very uncomfortable one. Riley curled up in his blankets, trying to keep warm. He didn't have the privilege of heating and cooling in his room. Sure, his dad's room could have it, but why should Riley? After ten minutes of trying unsuccessfully to keep warm, he decided to take a nice warm shower. By this time it was 6.15.

The warm water felt good. After an extremely long and relaxing shower, Riley, a towel wrapped around his waist, went to put his clothes into the drier so as to make them warmer. Twenty minutes later, Riley was warming his hands over a steaming bowl of cinnamon oatmeal. He looked out of the kitchen window; the sky had darkened. Riley wondered if it would snow. It had been unseasonably cold, it had been years since New Mexico had seen temperatures in the thirty's. Riley couldn't even remember snow, the good, white fluffy kind. He'd seen rainy, slushy, brown snow before. It wasn't that exciting.

Riley, being both hungry and cold with plenty of time to waste, ate three bowls of oatmeal. His father finally joined him and it was time to go. As they opened the front door, Riley got his first sight of snow, the good kind.

It was a winter wonderland out there. Snow covered everything. Huge icicles coated the trees. It was falling so hard; you could hardly see three feet in front of you. The dull sun sparkled off of the frost, reflecting thousands of times brighter than normal. It was an absolutely breathtaking sight.

"Guess we should check the T.V. to see if you have school," his father grunted. Riley nodded and went to the shabby little television. After a few minutes of looking for his school on the news channels, he finally found it. It was their first snow day in his living memory. Riley was rather excited, but also a little disappointed. School had heating everywhere; it would've been a lot nicer than staying and freezing here. Riley was much too old to think about playing in the snow, so he turned around and logged onto his computer. The school had posted some assignments for the kids to do. Riley was glad, as he was already bored. He finished all of the work and even got a bit ahead in some classes.

The roads were too icy for his father to even drive to work, so they stayed home that day. They didn't do much: they just watched the T.V., slept, played on the computer, and worked. Not a very eventful day.

That night the storm got worse. Riley could hardly sleep for all the noise the hail and ice was making. The next day, Riley measured four feet of snow and about five solid inches of ice. It would be awhile until the roads were cleared. Another boring snow day. Riley finished another day's worth of assignments. He was now about a week ahead on homework. He'd never kept up so well in his life. He studied for the upcoming exams. He felt he would actually do reasonably well.

Riley watched younger kids playing outside in the neighborhood. They looked warm in their coats and three pairs of socks and snowsuits. They had snowball fights and made snowmen. They slid down hills on their stomachs or pieces of wood. Riley wished he could just go out there and join them. He wished he could remember doing those kinds of things when he was their age, but he could not.

And still the blizzard raged on. After about three full days of storms, they finally lost their electricity. The entire city lost power. Almost every power line within a fifteen mile radius had snapped, sending about fifty surrounding cities into darkness. It was like being stuck in a frozen coffin.

All of the stores had lost power, so they couldn't get food, though most things were keeping relatively cold. Riley was starting to get a bad cold. Right now, they couldn't really do anything but wait it out. No one had any idea when the power would come back, but when people started saying weeks, Riley knew he had to do something. They had run out of food, and he was dying to get somewhere warm.

So, even though he didn't have a valid license, and the roads were dangerously slick, Riley drove. He drove far away while his father was napping, looking for a city that had power, warmth and food. After an hour of sluggish cruising, he finally found one.

--

As the snow fell lightly outside, the teens sat near the fire in Sharpay and Ryan Evan's mansion. It was lit only by said fire, the flames dancing off of the ornate walls. After a terrific snowball fight in which they'd all gotten soaked, Troy, Gabriella, Taylor, Zeke, Jason, Sharpay, Ryan, and Kelsi all made smores and laughed about random things. It felt good to laugh so normally. Jason got a marshmallow shoved up his nose, courtesy of Zeke, and no one could stop laughing about it for almost ten minutes. It was a picturesque scene where you would think these kids didn't have a care in the world.

And for that moment, they didn't.

**A/n: So try to guess where Chad is. I don't think it's too hard to figure out. Again, I know it was kind of a slow chapter, but it had to happen. Sorry this chapter is kind of short.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/n: Sorry for the long update period. I know I say that a lot, but I would be mad at me if I were you. High school is keeping me busy so the updates aren't going to get any quicker.**

**Chapter 11: Forgetting**

_He could be anywhere in this darkness. I'm so hungry. What if he kills my family? And my friends? He's crazy. But what can I do? I'm completely stuck. I can't move so I can't escape. Even if I could, what would I do? It's been three freakin days, if he's giving me food according to regular meal times. I'm so thirsty. Even if I could manage to get away, which doesn't seem likely, where could I go? He knows where I live. He told me that he followed me around for weeks; he knows everywhere I would go. I could get home, but what if he isn't bluffing? What if he is faster and he kills everyone I know and love? NO! I can't let that happen._

_But… I can't stay here. What the hell am I supposed to do? Why is he doing this to me? This is definitely the same guy I bumped into a few weeks ago. This is completely insane! He thinks I'm Riley! I'm not freakin Riley! Who is Riley? Riley is this guy's son, but where is he? What happened to him and why am I substituting for him? He's probably dead. It wouldn't surprise me if this was how his dad treated him._

_God! What am I going to do?!_

_He's coming. It's the first sliver of light I've seen in about six hours. Food at last! But what if he hits me? No, I can't take this anymore! But what can I do? What can I do?_

_--_

"_I'm not Riley," I repeated it for the thousandth time. He hit me again. I haven't seen my reflection in days. I probably look like a semi truck ran over me. I feel like it too. He hits me again when I plead half-heartedly to let me go. I gasp at the force. Unseen tears spring to my eyes. He kicks me for gasping. I'm crying now. He is furious. He knocks my chair over. My head bangs on the floor._

_The world fades away as he says, "You are Riley." No. I'm not._

_--_

_I wake up and I am untied for the first time. My breathing is uneven and my head pounding. I think he knocked me out again, but I can't be sure. Everything is starting to feel like a dream. It's been almost three months now. The days are melting into each other. It's weird to think that school is starting, without me. I wonder how they are getting along at home without me. I hope they are all okay. I hope they don't give up; that they keep looking for me._

_What if they find me? What would happen? He would go to jail, maybe even get the death penalty. I don't know. What if they didn't catch him and he found me again? He is psychotic; he wouldn't stop stalking me unless he was behind bars or dead. That, I'm sure of. What if he kills me? Would that even be the worst thing in the world? Death- heaven must be better than this hell. I'm so weak. Though I'm __finally untied, I can barely move. He planned it this way. He knows I won't be able to escape now. He feeds me so little._

_But he feeds me. That must mean he's going to let me live. But for how long? He can't keep me in here forever, can he? What does he want from me?_

_I crawl around in the darkness, trying to find something to help me. I find nothing but my chair and the ropes that bound me. I bump into the stairs that lead up to the door. Surely it would be locked? My stomach hurts so badly. I can feel it shrink as time goes on. If he doesn't kill me I'll die from hunger. I climb the stairs slowly. I stumble in the darkness but I try to make as little noise as possible in case he comes down._

_I finally reach the door. It is smooth and solid. Definitely too big for me to try to break down without any help. I try the handle. Of course it's locked. It would have been a miracle otherwise. Disappointment still manages to flood me. I climb down the stairs again. As I reach the last step, the door opens behind me._

_It's him again. I back away to the wall. He grins down at me, his face darkened in the doorway. Immediately the smell of alcohol floods the basement. It isn't the first time he's been drunk. I groan inwardly, because I know he always hits harder when he's drunk._

_But something is different about him tonight. He doesn't look particularly angry at this moment. He looks happy. Somehow this scares me even more. I slink into the shadows, but I know it is useless. He will find me within seconds. I hide in the corner farthest from the door._

"_Riley," he coos. "Come here." I'm silent. "Riley." He says it more forcefully. Still I don't move. I sense the mood change from playful to furious. "Riley!" he screams. The shout reverberates throughout the almost empty basement. I look to the door. Light is still seeping through the cracks. He must not have shut it completely. For the first time I actually think about really escaping._

_If I could only get to that door…_

_My stomach chose that exact moment to grumble. What are the freaking chances? He knows where I am. He charges at me. With strength that I thought had completely left me, I dodged him and made a break for the stairs._

_I'm so close to the door. If I could just get through it, I could lock _him_ down there. Then I could save myself from all of this. If I could only get to the door… _

_My luck ran out. I feel my legs fly from underneath my body as he grabs me. My head bashes against each stair as I tumble back down to my prison._

_I scream, just wishing someone above could hear. But I know it is useless. Someone would have heard by now if it was possible. I expect the beating of a life time, but instead the first thing I feel is a soft cloth against my face. I breathe in as my heads pounds fit to burst. I begin to struggle as I smell the cloth. It is __a futile attempt. I feel any strength I had left leave my body as the little light I could see turned to darkness. The last thing I feel is him peeling the clothes off of my body._

_--_

_It has been seven months-give or take a week or two. I have been beaten at almost every meal. I have been raped forty-seven times. He hasn't tied me up for months now. I just sit and wait for sleep and food. I don't ever know what time of the day it is. I can only tell time is passing by the meals that he brings._

_I have basically given up hope for escaping. I don't know what to do anymore. I have tried escaping countless times. Every time I try, he feeds me less for a week. The smell down here is horrible. My body is starting to reject food. Every few meals, I vomit. Puke, sweat, blood. I have bled so many times it surprises me I have any blood left. _

_I don't believe in god anymore. I used to be a strong believer. There can't be a god who would let this happen to an innocent kid like me. If He could do anything, then he would have helped me by now. I guess the Jews got away from the Egyptians on luck, because there is no god freeing me from my captor._

_I shouldn't say I don't totally believe in Him, because I still pray constantly. I've made countless deals and bargains, but he hasn't kept up his side of it. So now I just ask him to keep my family and friends safe and happy. If I can get out of this, I'll know for sure that there is a god._

_My body is awkward due to the angles of my bones straining taut against my skin. I must be a sight for sore eyes. I once asked for more food. He beat the crap out of me. He beats the crap out of me for everything. Sometimes he just does it for fun. _

_I vomit again. My body hurts so badly. I am going to die soon._

_--_

_I can't take it anymore. I am ending this one way or another. I'm starting to forget things. I can't remember Annabelle's middle name. I can't remember how tall Teddy is. I can't remember Taylor's birthday. I can't remember Troy's favorite song. I can't remember the sound of my father's snoring in the next room. I can't remember the smell of my mother's lotion as she kisses my forehead good night._

_I'm beginning to forget who I am. I have to remind myself of my own name. I have to tell myself my favorite song or my favorite basketball team. I repeat my address and my phone number to myself. It's been ten months. I turned 13 sometime within the last week. This isn't going to end. He's going to keep me here until I die, or until I forget everything._

_I think I have a concussion, but I'm not sure. I have an eternal headache to go along with my never ending hunger. I'm having horrible nightmares. I'm sleeping and dreaming about him beating me. I wake and find that he _is_ beating me. I have now been raped 59 times. I know that it is only a matter of weeks, maybe days until I die. My body rejects so much food that now I can feel blood pouring from my throat as I vomit._

_I'm choosing to end this. It's my choice, and I've been thinking about this for a long time. I don't want any more pain. I just want this to be over._

_I tighten the rope that had bound me so many months ago. It is itchy against my neck, but I couldn't care less. Its other end is tied to a loose pipe from above. As I stand on top of the chair, I can only think of goodbyes to my loved ones, and curses to him. I kick away the chair as the door opens above._

_--_

_I wake up and I'm in a bright room. I blink, confused. For so long there has been darkness. Now everything was dazzling and vivid. A beeping beside me counts my heart rate. I look down to see an IV in my arm. I look away, not enjoying the sight of the needle in my skin. _

_Nurses rush over to me. They ask me how I am. I don't know what to say. I'm still so confused._

_They say it's okay that I can't talk right now, that my body had undergone a lot of trauma. They say I've been in a coma for two days._

"_What… happened?" my voice is surprisingly raspy. It wasn't what I had thought it would sound like. It was almost unrecognizable. I look in a mirror on the opposite wall. I don't know the face that I see. It is Bruised and swollen. My eyes are still cloudy. I blink a few times, trying to take the image in. Who is this?_

_The nurses looked nervously at each other. They saw me watching them and then tried to cover the moment by saying, "You flipped off your bike. It was a nasty spill. You have a few broken ribs and a bad concussion. You should be okay in a few weeks."_

"_Wait, what?" this wasn't making sense to me. I still couldn't get a grip on what was going on. For some reason, I didn't trust the nurse's explanation. Instinct told me that something far worse had caused the look of worry that still lightly lined their faces. I tried to shake the feeling off by saying, "I can't remember any of that."_

"_We didn't think you would," the first nurse said kindly. "You have a lot of damage in your brain right now. You'll remember things in time. Do you remember you name?" I shook my head nervously. I was so bewildered. I couldn't remember my own name! "Your name is Riley Davids," she told me._

"_Riley Davids," I repeated. The name rolled awkwardly off my tongue. It didn't seem to fit. Just then, a man burst through the doors. He had deep brown eyes and curly, brown hair. He was big and clean shaven. I flinch automatically. He looks at me and stops. We stay like that for a moment; just staring. He looks vaguely familiar._

_And then it hit me. "No! NO! Stay back! Don't get near me! I'm not Riley! You're not my dad!" the nurses shake their heads sadly but knowingly._

"_What is he talking about?" the man asked. I was trembling. "What's wrong with him? Why doesn't he remember me?" the nurses came over to calm me down while explaining to the man about temporary amnesia after comas. I struggled, insisting that man was not my father._

"_NO! He kidnapped me and held me hostage for 10 months!" I was terrified. They didn't believe me. Who would? It sounded crazy, even to me. But it had to be true. It had to be! I couldn't have made that up!_

_Could I?_

"_Sweetie, you probably had a dream in the coma," a different nurse said soothingly. "I know, they can be very real, but it wasn't. I promise. He is your father. You had a horrible bike accident and now you're going to get better."_

_I'm not as sure of myself when she says it like that. I try to remember what I thought my name was. But no name other than Riley appears to me. _

_Maybe I am Riley._

"_We should let him sleep," the same nurse said softly. Already my eyes were closing. I see a liquid flowing into the IV. I hear the nurses mumbling in a group around the man that was apparently my father._

"_Sweet dreams, Riley," he said._

'"_Night," I reply. I guess I am Riley._

_--_

"Did he buy it?" Riley Davids Sr. asked the nurse.

"Yes," she sighed.

"Good," he replied. "I'm hoping he won't remember how he really got in here." Now it was his turn to sigh. "I knew he was depressed, but I never thought he would try to kill himself."

"It's just horrible," the nurse said. "He'd been starving himself for months too. Did you know that?"

"That's what one of the other nurses said," the man looked tired. "I saw him losing weight, but he said it was for football. I can't believe I bought that."

"It's all right." The nurse consoled. "Don't blame yourself. It isn't your fault."

"Thank you," the man looked slightly comforted. "I'm going to help him get his life back together piece by piece."

"That's a good idea. In a few weeks, when we let him out, you should show him places he's visited, things he's seen, people he's met. It'll help him remember."

"I'll do that." The man smiled.

**A/n: Long chapter. I just felt the need to write this filler. I hope you liked it.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/n: So this is an ultra long update period. I've been so busy in high school that I haven't written anything for a month. I will now be zooming into the present time, but will be flashing back. Sorry if you get confused.**

**Chapter 12: What the Hell?**

Riley drove the roads slowly, cautiously. It was getting dark and he knew a layer of ice coated the road. He'd been searching for a town with power for over an hour. It's not like the search was difficult or anything, all he had to do was drive through and look for lights. He had had a pretty uneventful drive. He was worrying a little about what his dad would do if he woke up with him gone.

Whatever, he knew that his dad was just as hungry as he was.

After a few more miles, he began to ascend a high hill. At the top of the hill, he looked out on a sea of stars. Lights! Electricity! His stomach rumbled in anticipation. He'd been living off of pop tarts for too long. He descended slowly, so as not to slide. Where was he?

The town was rather large, compared to Moors at least. It was like a movie with the houses and stores covered in snow. Riley just noticed it had begun to snow again. He groaned. He did not want to be cooped up with his dad anymore. At least at school, he could blend into the background and no one would bother him.

But not at home. His dad never seemed to let him out of his sight at home. Riley shuddered again at the thought of his dad awakening to the empty house. He thought of turning around, but then he thought that would be extremely stupid. He was already here, why not finish the job?

The streets were pretty deserted. There was a car or two passing by or a person walking briskly on the snow covered walk, but other than that, nothing. It was kind of eerie.

The place felt familiar, like he'd been here before. He found himself correctly predicting what was coming around the corner. Next would be a pet shop. Over there is a small boutique owned by a smelly old grandma. He kept shaking his head. When he passed the street, a small woman who seemed to be attracting flies walked out of the door towards a display case full of fish bowls.

What was going on?

Around the next corner was the grocery store. It was still open so Riley slowed to a stop in a spare spot. He got out and walked hastily into the store. It was very warm and surprisingly cozy for a grocery store. He looked around and headed for the last aisle, where he knew the eggs and milk would be. Again, he was right. At the beginning of this aisle were flyers of random events. He found the milk immediately and put in a nearby basket. On the carton was a picture of one of those 'have you seen me' kids. They always looked so sad, and for good reason.

Riley always got the biggest sympathy pain for these children. He had always been like that. He was one of those people who actually looked closely at kid's faces to see if he recognized them from the carton. He next went to find some food for sandwiches and soup. He was basically alone in the store until he heard the back bell tinkle on the door.

He didn't even look up. He looked at his list and saw that they were out of paper towels and toilet paper. He headed over to the aisle. Between aisles he glimpsed a boy who looked about his age. He only saw him for a second, but a weird sense of foreboding fell through him. He suddenly became nervous and uneasy.

He grabbed the toiletries quickly and went to the front counter to pay. He didn't know why he was acting like this. He breathed hard, counting out the money he needed to pay. He received the change and was turning to leave when he saw him.

They stood there, frozen. The boy had sandy brown hair and bright blue eyes. He was muscular and pink faced. He knew this person.

"What the…" the boy said almost silently, his face completely shocked. His eyes strayed to the bulletin board. Under all the flyers was a picture of a twelve year old boy who had been missing for over five years. Riley bolted for the door, not even bothering to look back. Troy Bolton stood in his wake, completely frozen. What. The. Hell.

Riley sprinted away, skipping his car and running for a few blocks. He couldn't think right now. His head ached. Finally he found himself in an abandoned alleyway, at least a mile from the store. He panted, and realized he was crying.

He couldn't figure out what had just happened. He saw the boy and he ran. But why? He couldn't explain it, but he had this thought that if he stayed there, they would both die. Where was he?

He found a newspaper dispenser and put the quarter in that would earn him a paper. The Albuquerque Times. What. The. Hell.

He was in freakin Albuquerque? What was wrong with him? Why did he know this place? The people? That guy?

Riley tried to put a name to this boy, but couldn't. He thought it was a weird name. Something like Tom or Roy. What was it!? He knew this person's favorite song and color. His birthday and jersey number. Facts flooded through his mind. Was this de ja vu?

No, this was more than de ja vu, this was reality.

Riley wiped the tears from his sweaty face and made his way slowly to his car. He was clutching the shopping bags so tightly his knuckles were white. He loosened his grip a little. He felt like he was going to throw up. Or pass out.

What the hell?! Riley really couldn't wrap his head around what had just happened. He got to the car after a few minutes. It was pitch black outside now. He drove home more rapidly than he'd driven there. He kept the windows down, both to keep the eggs and milk good and to soothe his racing mind. He felt very warm, like he had a fever or something.

He was so confused! Was this a dream or something? So he really wants to go to Albuquerque and then he just happens to drive himself there? Then he happens to know the whole town like the back of his hand? Then he runs into someone who he feels he's known his whole life? But he can't figure out how or why? This couldn't be just a coincidence.

About an hour later he pulled into the familiar driveway. The lights were off. Riley had been hoping the electricity could have just miraculously turned back on.

He crept through the back door into the kitchen. He quickly put the food away and then walked into the living room. He dad was still snoring! He hadn't moved an inch since he'd left! It was a freakin miracle. Too good to be true. Riley silently cheered and thanked god for his luck.

He was exhausted emotionally and physically. He was still thanking humanity that he had managed to not get in trouble. He collapsed on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

_Riley Davids walked into a house that was completely foreign to him. His dad said he'd lived here for years, but he felt this was his first time entering it. He still didn't fully trust this man, though he'd been nothing but pleasant to him since the moment he'd awoken. Riley was doing his best to keep a foot of distance between them. _

_He was still very shaky and confused. He'd been in the hospital for a little over two weeks, during which time he started getting used to the idea of the life he supposedly had. If he mentioned anything from the coma 'dream' the nurses would shush him and tell him not to upset his father. They said it was very common to have those kinds of dreams and that many people believed they were reality for a while after. They said it was healthier to just let go and forget it._

_So that's what he would try to do. Yet he couldn't shake this that easily. He kept getting flashes of the dream or life or whatever it was. He had a mother and father and siblings and a girlfriend and the best friends ever. He played basketball and had a dog and was horrible at math. _

_His dad said that he did play basketball, and loved it. He said he was just as bad at math as his old man. Riley didn't mention the rest of the fantasy to this man. He seemed very unstable; like he would hit you if he was a little ticked off. Riley still couldn't get rid of the thought that his dad had been beating him for months. He thought he had the injuries to prove it, but the nurses assured him they were from the accident, though they didn't seem too sure themselves._

_This man was keeping a very close watch on him, like he thought Riley would try to run away or something. Whether this was concern for Riley's well being or something else, he didn't know. But he was going to be careful around this guy for a while until he could be absolutely sure it was a dream._

_He trudged up to bed and collapsed almost immediately. His dreams were filled with memories that he would soon forget entirely._

Riley bolted upright in bed. He was sweating and panting and crying all at the same time. "Troy." He whispered. He said nothing else. He did not sleep for the rest of the night. He just sat there, repeating the name over and over. "Troy Bolton."

**A/n: Suspense! What's going to happen now? I had been planning the scene in the store for months. It's basically what I centered the story around. Anyway, some major stuff will be happening now, obviously. Review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/n: Yeah, I don't have much to say. I got my driver's permit so be jelly! I'm so terrified but I love driving. My dad said that when I drove he felt like he was on a rollercoaster, so then I gave him a roller coaster by reversing and accelerating quickly. He got really pissed but I laughed. Anyway…**

**Chapter 13: Decisions**

Troy Bolton was in complete and total shock. Had he truly just seen Chad Danforth? After five freakin years of no sign of him? How was this possible or even real? Most people had basically accepted the fact that Chad was gone and probably dead, and Troy was almost one of them. But of course he never wanted to completely give up hope. Other kidnapped victims had been found and returned after years.

It could happen, right?

He still just couldn't believe this. Troy had tried picturing what a Chad who was five years older would look like. He hadn't exactly pictured the beat up punk he'd just found. He had a freakin lip ring, that wasn't Chad. Chad was his best friend who hated school and loved pranks. He wasn't some stoner hoodlum. True, looks could be deceiving, but what had happened to Chad?

And that was the main question on Troy's mind while he sprinted around looking for his friend. He couldn't find him anywhere!

Why had Chad run? Troy knew that he recognized him too. So why would he run from him, Troy? Chad had looked almost scared. And very confused. Troy really didn't understand any of this. It didn't make any sense.

The first thought was that Chad actually had run away and that he'd been fine this whole time. This thought infuriated Troy. But then he remembered the last look on Chad's face a split second before he had bolted.

He looked completely terrified and very hurt. Like he was running against his will. Troy had thought of numerous things that could have happened to Chad. Numerous scenarios where he had come back. He had never pictured that scene.

Chad was obviously gone, so Troy sighed and collapsed on a bench. He rubbed his hands wearily over his eyes.

Why now, why was Chad back and buying groceries? Troy had a suspicion that Chad didn't really realize where he was until Troy had shown up. But that made absolutely no sense! You can't live somewhere for twelve years and then forget it. Can you?

What should he do? Chad was alive, which was definitely something. Should he go straight to the police? Should he tell the Danforths?

What if Chad had run away? He wasn't kidnapped or anything, but just ran away? No, Troy still couldn't accept that possibility at the moment, though it seemed the most probable thing at the moment.

Chad was long gone by now. Maybe it was better to wait a little while and see how things would play out. That way he wouldn't give anyone false hopes. Chad would be almost eighteen by now, and if he had run away and didn't wish to come back, no one would be able to force him to. Which would be worse? Thinking your son is dead or kidnapped or knowing that your son has been alive for five years and doesn't want to see you even though you've been worried sick about him? Troy didn't want to raise any alarms until he was sure something could happen. He didn't think the Danforths could take any more anxiety.

No, he would wait, for awhile. He would keep this to himself. Tonight he would sleep knowing that his best friend was actually alive.

--

Chad had slept very little last night. For obvious reasons. Who could sleep when you've just realized you've been kidnapped and this isn't actually your life? Who could sleep knowing that he had parents and friends in Albuquerque who had probably presumed him dead for years? Who could sleep knowing the truth?

Now that he chose to remember, floods of memories came back to him. Annabelle, Teddy, his parents, his friends, Taylor and Troy. They were all completely real. It hadn't been some fucking coma dream. He couldn't believe how incredibly stupid he was for actually accepting that it was false!

So now he knew. But he also remembered the months of torture and beatings and rape. He had tried to kill himself! He remembered the threats- how his kidnapper told him that if he ever tried to leave he would kill everyone he knew. It terrified him. He couldn't risk his family's safety just so he could be free. What would freedom be worth if everyone he knew was dead?

No, he couldn't let that happen.

But what could he do? He couldn't stay here. He could try running away, but where else would he go but home?

Mechanically Chad dressed for the day. The power was back on so he was sure he had school today. He sat across from the man who had kidnapped him and ate waffles and Fruit Loops. Chad tried not to look him in the eye, but the man wasn't paying attention anyway. He never really paid attention to him unless he was raping or beating him or some other form of abuse.

He had to get out of here. In the car next to the kidnapper he thought about going to the police. Would they believe him? Would they catch and stop this man before something bad could happen?

Suddenly Riley Sr. stopped the car. Chad realized they were in the middle of nowhere; they were near an abandoned farm, a surprising number of miles from town. Chad hadn't been paying attention; he'd been so wrapped up in his thoughts.

"Where are we dad?" the word dad rolled off of his tongue oddly, this man wasn't his father.

"Riley, where did you go last night?" he asked quietly. Chad hated it when he talked quietly; it scared him more than yelling.

"What do you mean?" Chad asked, his voice trembling only slightly.

"You know exactly what I mean,"

"No, I don't!" Chad was scared now. Had he woken up while he'd been gone?

"The mileage is up nearly one hundred miles! How did you think I wouldn't notice?"

"I'm sorry dad," Chad shuddered. "I was just trying to get groceries. I didn't know how much longer we would be out of power so I tried to find a grocery store that was open!"

"Where did you go?" the man growled almost silently. Chad flinched automatically. He could feel a beating coming on. All he could think was 'don't let him figure this out. Don't let him know where I went.' There was no way he would know, was there?

"I went to Shelbyville," Chad quickly made up.

"No you didn't," his voice was as soft as silk, as smooth as ice. Chad was petrified. "You went to Albuquerque, didn't you?"

"What? No!" Chad was panicking now.

"Yes. You went east, the direction of the city, because I saw the tire tracks. The mileage went up one hundred miles and Albuquerque is fifty away. A two way trip tells me you did go there. How dare you disobey me?"

"I… didn't mean to. I didn't know where I was!" Chad couldn't move. Oh god! Oh god! What was he going to do to him now?

"So I guess you've figured it out, huh?" the man whispered. "You've remembered." Chad didn't bother to nod his head.

"Then I guess you know why I have to lock you up again," sighed the man. Chad reached for the handle, ready to bolt. The man watched him. "I don't want to have to kill you Riley."

"I'm not Riley!" Chad yelled. He swung the door open in one fluid movement and sprinted away. He could hear the man behind him but didn't bother to look back.

Suddenly Chad felt a bullet pierce his shoulder. He fell to the ground, gasping at the blood flowing freely from his body. The world swam in his vision. It swirled about until it finally blackened.

**A/n: Cliffy! I love leaving you hanging. Review please! **


	14. Chapter 14

**A/n: I think this story is going to be ending soon. But I don't really know.**

**Chapter 14: Trapped, Again.**

_Ow! Oh god, this hurts! Ow! I can't believe he shot me! Well, I can because he's a fuckin kidnapper! But oh my god! Damn him for actually being able to figure that out! Damn him for fuckin shooting me! Damn him!_

_How the hell am I back in this basement! Nothing has changed from five years ago. Well, this time I'm tied to a pole instead of a chair, but that hardly counts._

_I can't stay here. I can't live out another year, no, another day in here. It's not like he would believe me if I said I 'was Riley' anyway. He knows that I can't be brainwashed again. So what exactly is he planning to do with me? Ow! My shoulder hurts so fucking badly. I guess if he'd shot me in the head it would've been a little worse. Maybe not. It would've probably been nice to be killed like that. Completely unexpectedly, with my back turned. I would never have felt it. But now I'll live out a long, slow painful death by starvation. Maybe blood loss if he keeps the beatings up._

_Is this seriously happening again? How can I go through so much? Isn't there a limit? You don't give the starving kids in Africa a huge flood just to make their lives worse. So why me? Why am I being punished? Again? What did I do? Yeah I tried to run, but what else could I do?_

_I've got to get out of here. These ropes aren't that thick. The glass on my watch is a little chipped, so I can try to tear the ropes apart. Yeah it'll take forever, but I've got forever, I think. I wonder what time it is; I can't exactly see my wrist as it is behind my back._

_--_

_I'm so hungry! He hasn't been down here once! What if he just tied me down here and left? I'm getting absolutely no where on these ropes, and it's been five hours. It's not going to work. I'm going to die and decay all alone down here. And the only person who will know that I haven't been rotting for the past five years is in Albuquerque and has no idea where I am._

_But Troy is the only hope I have right now. I don't think I'll be able to get out of here on my own; I don't exactly think he'll let me just walk out and resume my normal life. So what the fuck am I supposed to do?_

--

_What should I do? It's been nearly two days since I saw him. Should I tell the cops? Should I tell his parents? Should I go look for him? But where would he be?_

_I have school tomorrow, and then they will all know something's up. I suck at lying. And at hiding things. Yesterday I avoided them all day, but I don't think I can avoid them much longer. They'll know I'm hiding something just because I avoided them. What am I supposed to do? I think I'll have to tell someone, it's probably illegal or something to withhold information like this._

_Would anyone believe me? Or would I be the poor delusional boy who lost his best friend and was mentally unstable due to the pain of it all? I can't be that guy. I need proof. _

_Again, what if he ran away and doesn't want to come back? You know what? I don't even care anymore. He came back for a reason, weather he meant to or not is irrelevant. I'm going to find him and he's going to come back._

_But how?_

--

_Yes! I did it! I finally broke the rope! I've gotta get out of here. Yeah, the door's locked. Big surprise. Ow! I really should stop moving my shoulder. Oh crap I'm bleeding. Shit I've lost a lot of blood! Okay, I can't exactly ram the door down, so what now?_

_--_

_Yes! I got his license plate off the security camera at the store. Now I can find out where that beat up truck is registered. I can find Chad. I'll go talk to him myself, I'll find out what's going on, and then I'll bring him home. I'm telling my parents that I'm going over to Zeke's tonight; there's nothing suspicious about that. I just can't let them know what's going on in case I don't find him or he doesn't want to come back. I really don't want to involve police in this, because it does actually seem like he ran away. _

_I hope he didn't run away, but what kind of kidnapping victim gets to drive his own car? What kind of kidnapped kid gets to just walk around and go wherever he pleases? If Chad had been trying to escape, he hadn't exactly done a good job._

_--_

_I can't fuckin get out of here! I'm so tired. I've tried ramming the door. That's how desperate I am. Yeah, it didn't work, as I knew it wouldn't. Instead I again have a bleeding arm. Great. This is turning out so much better before. Yeah, I've only been down here a day or two, but without light, or food, it's an eternity. It's not like I can really fall asleep when at any moment he could be coming down here to either beat me or rape me. Or kill me. But again, I think I would prefer him to do it rather than me trying to again. There is still a rope down here, so if it comes to that…_

_There's got to be something down here to help me pick the lock. The only problem is that it is pitch black. It would be like almost literally finding a needle in a haystack._

_Maybe I could sleep…_

_--_

_Okay, so the truck was registered in someplace called Moors. It's surprisingly close to Albuquerque. It took me a little over an hour to get there. It's a small town. It looks like I'll have to search for the truck manually. If I find the truck I find Chad. That's all I really have to go on at the moment._

_Was that the truck? Yes! It has to be! So this is where Chad's been all of this time. Definitely not a kidnapper's hideaway. _

_--_

_My eyes open sleepily to see light pouring through the opened door. I scramble upright in my spot at the bottom of the stairs. I can't him very well. In the shadows, I don't think he can see me. _

_He descends the stairs slowly. Each step creaks with every movement he makes. The light plays off of his hand. A gleam of black metal; he brought the gun._

_The rope lies beside my feet. My hand twitches towards it. Do I dare strangle the man who has held me here for so long? If I don't, then I'll die. I stoop down slowly so as not to give away my position in the dark. "Riley," he coos. "Come here Riley. This will all be over in a minute." Yeah, this will be over, one way or another._

**A/n: Suspense! It's definitely almost over. You only have a few more chances to review. Did you know that I based this off of the true story of a kid that this happened to? The beginning is very similar to his story, but the ending will be all my own. **


	15. Chapter 15

**A/n: I'm really proud of myself for updating quickly and consistently. It's a hell of a lot easier only working on two stories at a time. Unfortunately that means this is almost over. Oh well.**

**Chapter 15: Going home**

"Hello? Chad?" Troy walked through the unlocked door into a small, shabby house. It smelled like old food and looked like it had never been cleaned. Random articles of stuff laid scattered about the floor and counter. He entered the living room, still looking for some sign that someone lived here. He knew that was the same truck outside that Chad had been driving, so he had to be here. If not, then whoever was here would know Chad.

He felt kind of odd about just walking in, but it wasn't like he was breaking in or anything. He just wanted to see if this was where Chad lived. Still… if it wasn't this would be awkward. Troy strode carefully on the loose floorboards. He climbed up the steps to the landing and turned. There were two rooms, one looked like the master bedroom and the other looked more like the room of a teenage boy.

It was messy and smelly. The bed was unmade and the dresser had collected dust-it probably hadn't been used in years. Instead clothes carpeted the entire room, Troy had no idea what the floor actually looked like. A backpack was thrown lazily in the corner. Papers and folders stuck out of it at random angles. Troy took one of the loose papers out and read the name at the top. _Riley Davids_.

Okay…

This was weird. He was either in some random guy's room or something was really wrong with Chad. But he assumed the latter, because this _was_ Chad's room. There was different furniture and clothes, but it looked almost identical to the room of the twelve year old boy's where he had slept many weekend nights.

But Chad wasn't this Riley guy, so why would he write that on the top of one of his papers? The handwriting was definitely Chad's untidy scrawl, so what was this? A fake name? A false identity?

What did that mean?

Suddenly Troy heard a loud crash below him. He almost yelled down but stopped himself just in time. Something was really wrong here, and it would be incredibly stupid for him to blow his cover. Instead he crept down the stairs quietly. He heard a muffled shout coming from around the corner. A door opened up to a dark basement, at the depths of which he could hear a loud brawl in taking place.

A shot sounded. Troy jumped, and before he knew what he was doing, he was sprinting down the stairs. As it was so dark, he ran straight into the wall. Rubbing his head, he made his way towards what had to be the center of the room where the fight was going on. He could hear a gasping and a grunting. Another shot. "Chad!" Troy screamed.

--

"Troy?" Chad almost dropped the rope he was currently using to strangle Riley Davids Sr. He hadn't wanted it to come to this, but he kept shooting at him, this was the only way he would live.

Was Troy actually here? At this particular moment? "Troy, get the hell out of here!" Shit. The kidnapper had taken advantage of Troy's appearance to switch their positions. "Ah!" Chad ground his teeth together as his arm was bent behind his back. He could feel the cold steel against his temple.

The rope was still in his hand. He pulled and Riley Sr. gasped again as the air flew from his lungs. Chad took this moment to again turn the tables. In the dark, this was all very confusing, but Chad was much more accustomed to the dark than this man, he had the advantage here.

The will to live had just increased a hundred times fold. Again he grunted. "Troy, get the hell upstairs! He's got a gun!" he heard a thud as he felt Riley shift his body. Shit! He had heard Troy too; he walked right in front of them. Riley Sr. had just taken the chance to use his foot to kick at the figure that was darker than the surrounding black. It sounded like he'd made contact with Troy's skull. After a short gasp and the thud of him falling, Troy did not move again.

"No!" Chad loosened his grip on the rope. When he felt the kidnapper begin to turn around again he tightened it. "Don't move," Chad ordered in a shaking voice. "I'll kill you right now if you move!"

"Go ahead and try!" the old man wheezed. Chad felt the gun press against his heart. "But I'll kill you too, and mine's a hell of a lot faster."

Shit. He could no longer hear Troy moving in the basement. He knew the only way out of this was to get away from Riley Sr., and he wouldn't let him leave unless he was dead. Riley would shoot him if he didn't strangle him. The gun jutted in father in his chest. He tightened his grip. This was the moment. Could he actually kill someone?

Yes. He had too. He swiftly tightened his grip as much as he could. He could hear the last breath leave the man's body as he fell to the floor.

Chad rushed over to the mass that was Troy. He smacked his head gently but firmly. He felt the body stir. "Come on," Chad ordered, he wanted to get away from here as quickly as possible.

"What…" Troy asked feebly. Chad ignored him and instead lifted him to a standing position. Troy allowed himself to be led up the stairs and through the house to his own car. Chad closed the passenger door with him inside. Then he crossed over to the driver's seat and turned the keys that had never left the ignition.

He reversed the car out of the driveway and drove away from the house where he'd been held captive for five years. He couldn't allow himself to be happy yet; he had to make sure Troy was okay. It hadn't registered yet. He was free! The kidnapper was dead! He could go home! Chad drove to the hospital and led a lightheaded Troy to the nurse's desk at the front of reception.

"I think he has a concussion," Chad told her in a surprisingly calm voice.

"My goodness, what happened?" she asked, she was now leading Troy by the arm to a closed off room where he could sit down.

"Um, we got in a fight," technically true.

"Well are you okay, Riley?" Chad doubled around to look more closely at the nurse. She was the same nurse who had visited their school a year or two ago for a health educational program. She was the same one who had told him that everything he had known had been a coma dream. All Chad could do was nod. He was totally fine.

"I'm going to go get some food in the cafeteria," he left the room as the nurse began to take the semi-conscious Troy's blood pressure and temperature. Chad ate his food slowly. He was starving, but he was also in shock. He had absolutely no idea what he was eating at the moment. All he could think was 'I'm free. He's gone. Troy and I are going home!' it was too good to be true. Far too good.

An hour later a highly medicated Troy and Chad left the E.R. and Chad began the long drive home. Unfortunately, the only rode out of town led right past that house. He had to look at it one last time before he left for good. Without really meaning to, Chad stepped on the accelerator a bit harder as he passed the house that last time.

It was definitely the nerves, but he could've sworn he saw a dark figure moving about in the house. Impossible, no one would know the man was dead yet. When Chad doubled back, there was nothing. He was just being stupid.

After half an hour of driving, Chad noticed Troy stir. He sat up and looked around, like he had no idea how he had gotten there. "You okay?" Chad asked. Troy nodded. Silence.

"What, do I have to ask it?" Troy asked impatiently.

"What?"

"What the hell happened back there?" Troy was really angry now. Did Chad just honestly think he hadn't processed the events of today?

"I killed him," Chad whispered. His face had turned pale.

"Who?" Troy was finally about to get some answers.

"He was going to shoot me!" Chad explained hastily, as if to justify what he'd done. "He had kicked you and knocked you out and I knew he would kill me this time!"

"But who was he!?"

"Troy, why do you think I've been gone for these last five years?"

"I don't know, you tell me, because my head really hurts and this isn't making any sense to me." Troy rubbed his sore temples. He could see a huge bruise in the car's side mirror.

"Troy, that guy, Riley Davids, kidnapped me," it sounded odd to say it out loud like that; so plain and simple. It was the most complicated thing in the world at this moment. Troy was silent, waiting for him to elaborate. "He kept me locked up for months, I couldn't do anything!" he paused, not wanting to tell what had happened next. He decided he should.

"Troy, I tried to kill myself. He had been starving and beating me… and, well, I couldn't take it anymore," he had skipped the raping part, but Troy had sensed the missing word. "I woke up in the hospital and all of these nurses told me that I had had a coma dream and everything I told them about being kidnapped was just a dream. I was so confused! They said I was Riley Davids Jr. and he was my dad! And I fucking believed them!" Chad had begun crying. "I'm such an idiot. For the past four years I've been fuckin living with the guy!" he had pulled over to the side of the road.

Troy had no idea what to do. He let Chad keep talking, because he knew that he had to get these things off his chest. He had kept too much in for too long. "Troy, I've been going to school and playing basketball; and all the while I knew something was off. But when you're forced to stop thinking about things like that, you just forget! Deep down I knew the entire time that this was wrong, but he would hurt me! He would put me back in the basement like before!" he was sobbing now. "I was down in that basement for almost a year Troy!" he was choking on his tears. "He told me that if I tried to escape or leave, he would kill all of you. You guys, my family… everyone. He was so strong, I couldn't do anything!"

"And then when I came back from Albuquerque, he knew what had happened, and it started all over again. He had gone down to the basement to kill me, and I had to kill him!" Troy couldn't even imagine how Chad was feeling, or what he'd been through. He just nodded, and pretended like he did. He even awkwardly patted him on the back. He had seen Chad cry only once before, and that was almost ten years ago when Corbin #1 had died. And this was a whole lot worse than your dog dying.

"… But who was he?" Troy knew this couldn't be some random act. If this guy had adopted Chad as his own, Troy had the feeling this had been planned for a while.

"I was so stupid!" Chad repeated. "For months before he kidnapped me I felt like I was being watched, followed. And it was him all along! I never told anyone!" he paused. "Can you even possibly remember Taylor and Gabriella's surprise party a few years ago?"

"Yeah, with the birthstones and stuff," Troy had no idea where this was going. It had been so long.

"Right, well that morning I ran into a weird guy outside of the cemetery on the way to school,"

"And we thought his kid was the one who had died from cancer!" Troy did remember. "The real Riley Davids?" Chad nodded.

"And I would be really surprised if it was cancer. If that kid's life was anything like the last five years…"

"Wow." That was all Troy could say. What else was there to say? They sat in silence for a moment. "Okay, do you think you're up to going home now?" Chad had stopped crying a while ago, but Troy just wanted to make sure he was stable enough to drive, because he sure as hell wasn't right now. He rubbed his head again, moaning a bit. Chad nodded and started the car again. They were really going home!

As Chad started to change the subject to everything that had been happening at home since he'd been gone, the mood generally lifted. Ten minutes later, they were singing to the radio. Too bad they hadn't noticed the red truck tailing them for the past ten miles.

**A/n: Wow. Lots of stuff in this chapter. It's not over yet, there is still plenty more action awaiting them! Review!!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/n: Wow, I really can't believe I've kept this going for 16 chapters. It really amazes me that I haven't stopped yet. I warn you that it will probably be over soon. **

**Chapter 16: Memory Lane**

"_Dad, what happened to mom?" I take a deep breath as I finally get the courage to ask. Since the coma, I really can't remember anything about the woman. I don't even know what she looked like, as there are no pictures. He ignores me, as usual. Going against all of my instincts, I persist. "Dad?"_

_He whips around, his face bright red. I back up into the wall. He advanced on me, holding the carving knife he'd been using to cut his steak with. I cringe involuntarily, not liking the sight of my father threatening me with a blade. "Don't you ever talk about her you little bastard! Get the hell away from me! If I ever hear you talking about her again, I'll kill you!" his eyes were red, though he hasn't had a drop to drink, yet._

_I sprint up to my room, locking the door behind me. The sun is setting, the day ending. It has been as boring as every other day so far. The only thing to liven up the time is _his_ rampages, and those aren't exactly fun. I don't really seem to have any friends, or at least I don't remember them. I've been sitting around for almost three months now with absolutely nothing to do. Well, I'm trying to catch up for school; I'm really far behind. Damn coma. I'm starting eighth grade in three weeks, and I hardly know any of seventh grade's material. _

_I have to borrow some old school books from the library; with nothing else to do, I've gotten a lot of school work done. The only thing that I really hate is math. I can't figure out Algebra at all, and _he_ won't help. _

_So yeah, a boring summer, except for the lively beatings. He hurts me every time he comes home drunk. I've thought about running away a thousand times, but I keep putting the idea off. I want to get my memory back first, so I won't be totally lost. _

_Yet, this was getting worse and worse. I'm here all alone with this man, but I know no one anywhere. What am I supposed to do, where am I supposed to go? I can't stay here much longer if my dad keeps acting like this. _

_Oh god, another headache. Ow, my head! The doctor said this would happen for a while, but when will it stop? _

_Without even realizing it, I fall asleep, and I notice only by the fact that I wake up about two hours later. It's dark out now. I don't think he's here anymore. I had a weird dream. I was at some birthday party with a bunch of diamonds. The whole room shimmered and all the guests were very happy. Waking up is kind of disappointing, it was a very good dream. At least my headache is gone._

_A thud downstairs catches my immediate attention. I open the door and yell, "Dad?" down the stairs. Mumbling answers my question, great he's drunk. I lock my door again. He will probably be very aggressive tonight, especially after the kitchen scene. My eyes stray to the window. I'm only on the second floor._

_Without even really thinking, I slide the window open and climb stealthily out. I haven't been out in a while, I need a walk. My feet trace familiar steps in an unfamiliar world. I have no idea where I am going, but I just keep walking. The streets are empty, but it's always empty here; there aren't very many people. It's a little lonely, but after three months, I've gotten used to it. _

_Something isn't right here, I know that, but what the hell am I supposed to do? Why doesn't anyone seem to know me? Why haven't I gotten my memory back yet? Why is my brain so messed up?_

_Seriously, I just keep, thinking things, that I think are real or true, but they aren't. It's like I'm insane or something. Maybe my dad is lying about the whole bike accident thing. Maybe I cracked after living with him for so long. How can anyone function in constant fear of their health and sanity?_

_How long have I been walking? I don't really know where I am, but this town is so small I can always find my way back._

_But what if I don't go back? What if I just keep walking? I could, he wouldn't catch up. He would have no idea where I went. I don't know why, but every time I think like this, I get kind of a déjà vu, where I think something bad will happen. See how insane I am? My whole existence seems to be déjà vu._

_The only bad thing that would happen is me being all alone in an unfamiliar place, but that is basically my life now anyway. I walk a little farther until I reach the city limits. It's a vast expanse of desert and highway, but I know there are towns and cities down there too. Maybe… _

_I take a few steps toward those distant cities. Miles and miles of desert, not the safest place to walk during the night. I should get back. I will always have this option open to me; I don't have to rush too quickly. School will start soon. It will all get better then. And if it doesn't this desert will still be here._

_--_

_Troy saw the police lights flashing around the house. A small flicker of hope sprung from within him. Had they found something at last? He quickened his pace so as to investigate. Mr. Danforth had just invited the officer in. Troy sidled around the house and came to lie beneath the open living room window. He had been sneaking around for a while now, always hoping to hear some kind of news, weather it be good or bad._

"_Mr. Danforth, we found something," the grim voice of the officer floated perfectly clear out the window. Troy held his breath. His heart seemed to stop._

"_Well," Mr. Danforth prompted after a moment's suspense._

"_This cloth," the officer paused. Troy could tell this was not good news. At least it wasn't a body. "It has anesthesia on it."_

"_What does that do?" Mr. Danforth asked. But Troy knew. He had appendicitis a few years ago; he remembered that anesthesia was what doctors used to put you to sleep. The officer repeated somewhat of the same explanation._

"_Sir," the man paused again. Troy could already guess what had happened, why the man was here, but he still pressed his ear closer to the ledge anyway. "This cloth also has Chad's saliva and a little bit of blood on it. We found it downtown in the middle of a pretty bad neighborhood."_

"_And…" Mr. Danforth's voice was anxious._

"_We've searched the entire area, but nothing else has turned up. Everyone in the area passed lie detector tests saying they had never seen your son." Troy heard the officer stand. "I'm sorry sir, but it's been three months, and the department is going to have to start investigating this case as murder."_

"_But…" Mr. Danforth protested, "A little bit of blood on the cloth doesn't mean…" _

"_And a small pool of it near the place the cloth was dropped," the policeman interrupted. "I'm sorry." Troy heard the door open and close. He stayed frozen as the car pulled away, the blue and red lights now shut off. He didn't move or think as Mr. Danforth began to sob only five feet away from his hiding place._

_Numbly, Troy got the strength to get up. He walked blindly along, having no desire to go anywhere or think anything. He could not think right now. No._

_But in the darkness, in the silence, thoughts can't help but intrude the privacy of your mind. His best friend was probably dead. If not dead then, then dead by now. His best friend had been kidnapped, and possibly murdered. He was gone, and after three months, he probably wasn't coming back. _

_NO! This couldn't be happening! Without realizing, Troy had begun sprinting. The night air tore at his lungs, but he didn't slow. NO! No! No. This can't be happening. This wasn't how the story was supposed to end! Chad was supposed to come back in a flame of heroics and excitement. He wasn't actually gone, he just, wasn't here. These were the thoughts that Troy had been using to shield the truth, to keep his sanity. Now how could he keep the charade up?_

_How could he keep going? School was starting soon. He would have to go there when his best friend was probably dead. He would have to function normally, as if nothing were different. _

_But at least the others would be there. He had hardly talked to them at all this summer; they had all been pretty reclusive. Once school started, at least they would have each other for support._

_Troy finally slowed his pace. He was a good two miles from home, but instead of heading back, he just sat down and hung his head. Chad couldn't really be gone, this all had to be a bad dream. Any moment he would wake up and his best friend wouldn't be dead._

_Troy wiped away the fallen tears, stood up, and headed home. Five months later, the police finally closed the case as unsolved. The entire town had given up hope. Chad wasn't coming back. This nightmare wasn't ending._

_--_

_He's asleep, thank god. The house is silent as I creep up to my room. I was worried he might hurt me. I'm safe, for tonight at least. Though I remember leaving my room locked, the door opens up at my lightest touch. I disregard this odd fact and crash onto my bed. _

_I kick off my shoes and pull of my shirt. I lay on the covers, breathing heavily after my lengthy walk. Sleep evades me for a long time, but it finally comes. _

_A sudden noise wakes me up in the early lights of the morning. I glance at my clock, it's 4.00 a.m. My room is still pitch black, but I can sense another presence with me. My breath quickens. What was going on?_

"_Go back to sleep Riley," the oddly soft voice of my father coos. The hair on the back of my neck raises, every instinct I posses tells me to run, to escape. He comes closer, and still I haven't moved; I'm hoping he will think I am sleeping and just leave. _

_Suddenly he is right over my bed. I try to roll off the other side, but he grabs my hair. I scream and he smacks me. Now I can smell the alcohol on his breath; at last. I am no stranger to this abuse, but I can feel a difference tonight. I don't want to find out what this difference will be. I claw at his hands until he lets my hair go. Swiftly I am off the bed and sprinting for the door. _

_He scrapes at my back as I swing the door open. I'm running down the stairs when the strong pair of hands suddenly touches me again. Instead of trying to bring me back, he pushes me forwards. My arms flail wildly, looking for a banister to cling to. _

_I seem to fall down in slow motion, entirely conscious the entire time. I can feel my jaw breaking as I land face first on the landing. I can feel blood pouring from my skull as the world slips farther away. I can feel my father peeling the remainder of the clothes off of my supposedly unconscious body. This is a whole new level of evil for him. Déjà vu engulfs me yet again, I feel as if I've been here before. I don't want to feel anymore. I close my eyes and succumb to the surrounding darkness. I can't do this anymore. _

**A/n: This is just kinda a filling chapter. I'm stalling while I try to figure out an ending. I'm waiting for my epiphany any day now. Review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's note: I do know that this isn't the most realistic of stories, I just think that most realistic stories are boring- at least they would be if I wrote them. I know that there are many reasons why most of the events in this story would not happen, but I'm ignoring those facts. Thank you to everyone who has read this far. Sorry the update period was so long.**

And don't worry, the drama and action is not over yet. These next two chapters are just a lot more calm and sweet.

Chapter 17: Reunions

Wow. Could this really all have happened? It seems so surreal, like a dream. Is it possible that I'm really going home today, after almost five years? Is Riley Sr. really dead? Did I actually kill him? Wow.

"You okay, man?" Troy asked for the thousandth time.

"Yeah," Chad grunted. The embarrassing tears had just welled up in his eyes again. He blinked them away as he drove into the Albuquerque city limits. Could this really be happening? "How's your head?"

"Fine," Troy shrugged nonchalantly, then winced in pain.

Chad was extremely nervous about going home. He had missed everyone more than imaginably possible, but he was nervous just the same. How could he possibly explain the past five years to everyone? Would they understand? Or would they think that he should've been braver and escaped sooner?

No, that was stupid, of course they wouldn't think like that. Would they?

Chad drove in silence, his anticipation escalating as he pulled onto his familiar street. Would his family even recognize him? Teddy had been so young, and he looked so different now. Chad immediately regretted his lip ring and wished he could take it out. He grimaced as the unwilling metal protested. His lip was still too swollen for that.

He looked in his mirror and tried to erase a smudge or two on his face. He knew that he probably looked like some kind of a punk or thug, and the last thing he wanted to do was scare his mother. Mom! Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Troy smiling as he increased his speed ever so slightly.

Too soon, but also not soon enough, Chad pulled into the driveway. His driveway. His eyes prickled as he again tried not to cry. He knew there was no fighting it once he got inside the house.

His heart raced as he walked up the front steps. When he got to the door, he faltered. Should he knock? It was his house after all, but it just felt too strange to just walk in. Troy, who Chad had all but forgotten, solved his dilemma by rapping sharply on the door. After a few moments of uneasy fidgeting, the door opened.

A young boy answered the door. Chad felt like he was looking through a hazy mirror, though this kid had to be less than ten years old. The boy looked Chad up and down, no sign of recognition lighting up his face. Of course his little brother wouldn't remember him. He turned to Troy, "Hey Troy. Who's this?"

"Teddy," Troy choked out the word roughly. Chad turned and he too had tears in his eyes. This was so incredible. "It's Chad." Teddy did a double take, not fully realizing what this meant.

"What?" he almost whispered, now gazing at Chad with huge eyes.

"It's Chad, Teddy," Troy repeated. "He's back."

Eyes still wide, Teddy turned his back on them and walked a few steps away. Before they could move he shouted up the stairs, "Annabelle!" A minute later a skinny girl with light brown curly hair came down the stairs.

"What Teddy?" she asked, sounding slightly annoyed. Then her eyes strayed to the doorway where Troy and Chad were still standing awkwardly. "Oh my GOD!" she screeched. "No WAY!" without hesitating she raced over to them and squeezed Chad as tightly as she could in a hug. "Oh my god," she said again. She just gaped open mouth at her big brother, "Oh my god," she repeated, and then laughed a little. Chad gave her a tiny smile. They both had grown up so much. They hardly even looked like the little three and seven year olds that Chad remembered.

Silence filled the scene, Troy and Chad were still in the doorway, and the moment was getting more and more uncomfortable. Annabelle walked away into the kitchen, and Teddy followed her. Troy and Chad trailed behind. Stepping through the door, Chad experienced something much stronger than de já vu. This was reality, but it was a past life. It had been so long since he could even remember this place.

Everything looked the same, but different. There was old furniture, but new additions as well. On the walls of the hallways there were new pictures of people Chad had never seen, or maybe they just looked different after all this time.

Outside, night was falling. This had been the longest day of his life. Well, maybe not. There had definitely been longer days locked up in that basement in an eternity of darkness. No, Chad couldn't bear to think about that right now. Instead he looked to Annabelle who was dialing a number on the familiar phone.

"Mom," her voice was strained. "Can you come home right now?" a pause, "No, everything is fine. It's great. Just trust me and come home now," another pause. "You'll see when you get here. Just come on!" the last pause, "Okay, see you soon. Love you. Bye." She hung up the phone but quickly dialed another number. The conversation was repeated to Mr. Danforth.

A few minutes later the four of them were sitting in the living room, waiting. They agreed to hold off explanations for a moment so that Chad wouldn't have to repeat himself too many times.

He was getting more and more anxious by the second. Since his dad worked closer to home, Chad knew he would have to face him first. He had to keep reminding himself to breathe.

The sound of a car pulling up and his father walking up the back steps sent Chad's heart into a frantic race. Again, so excited but nervous. "Annabelle?" his father called. "What's going on?" he sounded slightly worried, despite Annabelle's calm manner on the phone.

"In here Dad," she called, never taking her eyes off Chad. "You're not going to believe who's here." As Mr. Danforth entered the room, everyone stood at once. The moment his eyes fell on Chad, he stopped cold.

Chad tried to smile, but failed, seeing the horrified look on his father's face scared him. Like he was seeing a ghost. Which is probably the impression his father was under. Silence filled the room. No one moved. Chad and his father just stared at each other. Then, Mr. Danforth crossed the room in one long stride and embraced his son in a much stronger hug than Annabelle's.

Then Chad's tears could flow freely. The other three witnesses in the room all beamed at this joyous moment. "Dad!" Chad cried.

"Chad," his father answered. "My son!" he then tore his gaze from Chad to Troy. "What happened?" then back to Chad, "How are you here?"

"Can we wait another minute for Mom?" Chad asked, tasting the word 'Mom' on his tongue once again. It felt so good, but so unreal.

"Sure," his father agreed. They all sat down again. His father looked much older to Chad. It looked like fifteen years had passed instead of five. His hair was graying, balding, and he was losing weight. But this familiar man never swerved his gaze from Chad's eyes. It was like he was trying to find out what happened simply from reading his deep chocolate eyes.

They didn't have to wait long. Mrs. Danforth was much more flustered by Annabelle's call and had driven home as quickly as was possible. Seeing a car that she thought to be Troy's only confused her further. She hadn't seen Troy in a while.

She walked in to see everyone in the living room grinning broadly. Except for one boy that she didn't recognize. She looked to her husband for some clarification but he wouldn't remove his eyes from the boy. She backtracked and studied the teenager's face.

No. It couldn't be. This had to be some kind of a dream. A sick nightmare to torture her still further. But it didn't add up, she usually dreamt about her son at age twelve, someone she knew, remembered. She had never seen this boy before. It couldn't be.

Without realizing it, she had grabbed the door for support. Simultaneously, everyone stood, concerned expressions crossing their faces. Yes, a nightmare, of course. Because this was definitely impossible. The police had long given up the case. She had long accepted that he was gone.

"Hannah," her husband soothed. "It's okay Hannah," she couldn't move. He tried again, "It really is him Hannah! Really."

She looked back to the boy next to Richard. He looked so sad, and slightly fearful, as if he was afraid he'd upset her somehow. He also looked tired and beaten. What had happened to her baby?

"Chad!" she pleaded, begging for this dream never to end. He tried to smile, but grimaced instead. Her heart throbbed wildly as she sprinted over to her son, her baby boy.

"Mom!" he answered, taking one step forward to meet her. Her whole body was shaking with her sobs, but neither of them wanted to let go of the other. This was far to good to be true. His father joined their embrace, squeezing them tighter still. Troy, Annabelle, and Teddy waited patiently, huge grins on their faces once again.

Chad would have stayed like that for hours, one huge room filled to the brim with this enormous love, but he knew he owed them an explanation.

"Chad?" his mother questioned, as if she was still unsure if this was real or not, "What happened to you? Where have you been?" Chad took a deep breath and began his story.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: Sorry, this chapter is kind of boring, but it's necessary. At least I updated quickly!**

Chapter 18: Explanations

"Mom, Dad," tears welled in Chad's eyes again, "I'm so sorry. I couldn't stop him!"

"Who?" his father interrupted sharply.

"His name was Riley Davids," Chad told them quietly, still marveling in the past tense.

"What did he do to you son?" his father prodded.

"Well, he, umm," Chad glanced at Annabelle and Teddy. His parents followed his gaze and seemed to agree with his assessment.

"Teddy, Annabelle, why don't you two go upstairs for a few minutes while we catch up with your brother?" Mrs. Danforth asked sweetly.

"No way Mom!" Annabelle complained. "He's our brother and we deserve to know what's going on!" Chad couldn't help but smile. Annabelle had hardly changed from the whiney but loveable seven-year old he recalled.

"Annabelle, take Teddy up to your room now!" his father ordered. Annabelle threw him a dirty scowl but obeyed as she and Teddy trudged up the stairs. A door slammed loudly as if to prove they were in her room. Same old Annabelle.

"Chad, what did he do to you?" his father asked again. Chad looked to Troy who had hardly spoken. Troy nodded in encouragement.

"He knocked me out and… took me." He paused, gauging their reactions. His mother paled and his father breathed in sharply.

"You were kidnapped?" his mother whispered. Chad's despondent eyes met hers. He looked twenty years older as he nodded.

"He kept me locked up for months. He… hurt me, and he told me that if I ever tried to run away, he would kill all of you guys." he stopped, glancing at Troy again, not wanting to continue. But he needed to get this out to his parents.

"He beat me a lot. He practically starved me! I…" he didn't want to tell them the rest. He couldn't bear looking his mother in the eye and telling her that he tried to kill himself.

"Son, it's okay," his father encouraged gently.

"Dad," he looked to his father instead, "I tried to kill myself. It didn't work. I woke up in a hospital and all these nurses were telling me it was all a coma dream and that everything I knew wasn't real! They told me that the man was my father!" now that he was started he had to keep going, "I was so scared and confused, I didn't know what to do." He was crying again. He felt his mother hug him closely.

"It's okay Chad," she too was crying again. Chad really didn't want to scare her, but it seemed he had no other choice. "I love you so much, baby,"

"I love you too Mom," Chad answered. Again, these words felt so good rolling off of his tongue. It took a lot longer for him to start his story again, but he knew it was best to get it all out sooner rather than later. "So I tried to believe the doctors and nurses, because in that hospital, that man was so nice to me- like he really was my father. And he was like that for a few weeks- all loving and caring. Which is why I started to believe them." he was so ashamed of his stupidity, he couldn't even look up to see their reactions.

"Then he took me back to his house. He was still kind and fatherly for a few more months. By then I was starting to forget things. My head had really gotten screwed up from all the times he hit me in the beginning. I got horrible headaches and weird flashes of memories. The nurses told me I had amnesia so I just assumed that's what it all was. I would try to talk to him about the dreams and stuff but he would start screaming at me. He terrified me. So I was forced to block everything out. I tried to forget it all so he wouldn't hurt me."

"Every time he got drunk, he would beat me again," Chad was still skipping the rape part, for now. His mother looked about ready to pass out anyway, "but time went by, and things slowed down. He enrolled me in school; I played basketball. Things were almost normal. But he always terrified me. I would always have to be on the lookout for another incident to set him off."

"But life was almost kind of normal. I had basically blocked out everything from this life. I forgot it all. But then…" Chad looked to Troy again, and this time his parents followed his gaze, wondering again how Chad was back with them.

"You know that huge snow storm a few days ago?" his parents nodded. "Well we lost power for almost a week. All of the stores were closed and we didn't have any food. So I drove around looking for a town with power, and I ended up here. I guess it was some subconscious prayer answered or something. Anyway, I ran into Troy but I couldn't figure out who he was or where I was, so I drove straight back home.

"That night, everything came back to me. I could remember everything I had ever known, and I knew it wasn't a coma dream because I had just seen Troy. I didn't know what to do, because I also remembered how e had told me he would kill all of you if I tried to escape.  
"While I tried to make up my mind, he figured out that my memory had come back and he locked me away again," Chad paused. He really didn't want to tell them about killing Riley. With all that had been happening, Chad had barely even noticed the pain in his shoulder. The blood could not be seen underneath his jacket, but now that he was aware of it, it hurt like hell. He ignored it for now.

"Well, I guess he decided that he couldn't keep me around anymore, because when he next came down to the basement where he was keeping me, he brought a gun," his mother gasped and hugged him even tighter, which bothered his arm. He ploughed on though. "There was a rope down there, and I had to use it, to kill him." Chad couldn't look up. He couldn't even continue. Silence engulfed them until Troy spoke up a few moments later.

"I had gone looking for Chad," he told them. They didn't look to him but he could tell they were listening. "I got his license plate and tracked him to the house the guy lived in," the Danforths didn't need to know all the details right now. "Well I found Chad and that guy in the basement. Before I could do anything, the guy knocked me out. He would've shot me if Chad hadn't done it," he let that sink in for a moment.

"Where was he keeping you?" his father asked quietly.

"Moors. It's only a few miles away. All this time, I've been so close, but I couldn't get back here. I'm so sorry," Chad was sobbing now. His mother kissed him while his father patted his back.

"I'll go call the police," his father said after a long time. Chad looked up horrified, would he really get in trouble for killing Riley?

"Don't worry, Chad," his father quickly amended. "I just think we should tell them about that man's body in Moors," Chad relaxed a bit, but was still very nervous. So they had heard most of his story, and they seemed to be taking it in stride. This was the best reaction he could've ever hoped for.

The police came over soon after. Chad had to repeat his story a little more accurately this time. His mother had left the room but his father heard him talk about the numerous rapes.

After the police left his house, Troy mentioned something about how happy their friends will be. Though they really didn't want to let Chad out of their sight, Mr. and Mrs. Danforth agreed that Chad should get to see them for a while.

So very like five years ago, Troy called up their closest friends and told them to come over to his house. Though they begged him to tell them what was going on, he didn't want to ruin the surprise.

Chad and Troy were sitting on his sofa when the door first opened. A girl poked her head in and asked, "Troy?" another voice asked, "Who is that?" a pause as Chad turned to face her. "Oh my GOD!" Gabriella screamed.

Sharpay and Ryan reacted much the same way as Gabriella. Hugging and tearful hellos entered the room once again. Chad assumed Troy was taking them aside and telling them the jist of where he'd been, because no one was asking him about it.

Kelsi, Zeke, and Jason arrived next. He had never really known Kelsi, but he was happy to see her just the same. Jason didn't really seem to be a part of the group anymore, but seeing him was still nice. Zeke had been his best friend, second only to Troy. Thankfully, none of them cried. Chad had cried far too many times today. So the eight of them sat just talking about old and new times, waiting.

Taylor was the last to walk through the door. Chad was suddenly shy again. He didn't know how he was supposed to act here. Did she have another boyfriend? They'd only been twelve when they considered themselves to be 'going out'. So much had changed.

Again, silence filled the room as the front door creaked open. Troy was stationed closer to the door with Chad standing near the Bolton's couch. She was beautiful. She looked so much like the twelve year old he recalled, but she had grown up. She was mature, though she always had been anyway. She was graceful and lithe. Chad forgot all the reasons for awkwardness as he took in her stunning appearance.

Taylor's eyes were confused as she took in the stranger next to Troy. Recognition flickered and suddenly she was squealing shrilly.

Normally Chad would've covered his ears, but his arms were too busy embracing her in a hug. He wanted to kiss her, but didn't know if he should. They hadn't really gotten past the handholding stage of their relationship before…

"Chad Danforth, where have you been?" she tried to ask forcefully, demanding an answer, but she was just too happy to be stern. It sounded a lot more like he had been late to a party.

"Umm, well," there was no way he wanted to repeat this again, at least not tonight. And he especially didn't want Taylor to know the horrors of these last five years. If she was still the same Taylor he remembered, she would not process that information quite as smoothly as his parents had.

"Taylor," Troy cut in, "Chad's had a really long day. You'll find out what happened later…"

"No Troy," she interrupted. She looked at Chad again. "I don't need all the details, just tell me the main point."

Chad sighed; he knew he had no choice. "Tay, I was kidnapped." She nodded and that was all. She didn't press for more info as she normally would have, but let that rest instead. She would hear the whole story soon enough.

He couldn't stay very long. His parents had already called him on Troy's phone, asking him to come home. It was rather ironic that lack of freedom would be the result of his kidnapping.

Chad obliged, apologized to his friends all the while. Troy drove him home, with Taylor riding along in the back seat. The mood was happy, upbeat. No one wanted to start a depressing conversation right now; there would be plenty of time for that later.

Once Troy had to drop Chad off in his driveway, a pall came over all three faces. Every good bye felt too final for some reason. Like they would never see each other again. Chad just now realized that this would be the first time Troy would not be with him after all of this. They'd been together form the moment they'd left Riley's house.

It was late, nearing twelve; Chad hurried in to get out of the December cold. He waved goodbye to Troy and Taylor at the door, and again, that odd sense of depression enveloped him. He didn't want to be separated from anyone he loved right now.

If they were all gone, then this would all stop being real. It would all slip away. Chad was in no way comfortable with his unstable state of mind. He felt that at any moment, he could crack. After what he had done to Riley, he knew that a break down was inevitable, but he also knew that he wanted to be alone for it. He did not want his parents or Troy or Taylor or anyone else to see him when that happened.

Chad spent about another half hour with his parents just talking and watching television. The normality of the event was too bizarre. Yesterday he was locked in a basement waiting for Riley to kill him and today he was watching the news with his parents. Yeah, this was weird.

When Chad began falling asleep on the couch, his parents suggested he go up to bed. His room brought on a fresh wave of déjà vu. It was cleaner than it had been, but it still held all of his old possessions. His bed had the same plain blue comforter; the walls were still the same shade of tan. His clothes were nicely folded, though they were much too small now. For some reason, this made him laugh.

He could've still been twelve years old for all that this house had changed. Though it was very apparent in the people, time didn't really seem to have affected this place. Chad had been in such a hurry to see his friends today that he had almost forgotten about his bloody shoulder again. His mother had insisted he at least get it bandaged for today. Tomorrow they would go to the hospital and get it properly taken care of.  
He hadn't showered in days, he was filthy and sweaty, but he could've cared less. He kicked off his shoes and was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.

**A/n: So yeah. I know it sounds like the story is winding down, but I swear there will be an interesting twist in the next chapter. Scroll down to the end of chapter 15 to see what I mean.**


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